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CIVIL WAR 
EXPERIENCES 

UNDER 

BAYARD, GREGG, KILPATRICK, CUSTER 
RAULSTON, AND NEWBERRY 

1862, 1863, 1864 



BY 



HENRY G. MEYER 

CAPTAIN 24TH NEW YORK CAVALRY 
BREVET-MAJOR NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS 



PRIVATELY PRINTED 



NEW YORK 
1911 



Ego! 



The Knickerbocker Press 

(g. p. PUTNAM'S Sons) 
New York 



i\.{i. 



t 



4 






INTRODUCTION 

DURING December, 1895, I received a letter 
from General Walter C. Newberry, of 
Chicago, who during the Civil War commanded 
the 24th New York Cavalry. In this the General 
wrote : 

" My Dear Major Meyer : 

" You will remember how urgent the boys were 
last summer for a history of the Regiment to 
be prepared. I resolved then to gratify them 
and am engaged on it now. I want you to aid 
me to the extent of giving me a detailed account 
of yourself — nativity, date of birth, former ser- 
vice, engagements that you were in that led up 
to your promotion, your service with us, your 
wounding and incidents accompanying it, your 
period of treatment in the Hospital, your civil 
record since, and be kind enough not to be at 
all modest in setting it all forth. I shall not 
use your language, neither shall I give you 
credit for the biography, and you may drop all 
modesty with me and give it to me in full. You 
may have kept something of a diary or there 
may be some old letters that you have written 
which will give me some record by dates of the 
Regiment's service. I want it all." 

In 1896 I complied with this request to the 
extent of giving a brief account of my service 

iii 



iv INTRODUCTION 

in the Army. Since then, members of my 
family and a few personal friends have asked 
me to incorporate in this account incidents that 
I recalled, some of which they had heard me 
relate, asserting that they would be of interest 
to my grandchildren. 

The following story is my attempt to accede 
to these requests. I am naturally proud of hav- 
ing had the privilege of serving under the Gen- 
erals I have mentioned, and the story recited 
in the following pages is in accordance with my 
recollection of events that occurred over forty- 
five years ago. 

Henry C. Meyer. 
New York, May, 1911. 



CONTENTS 



Chapter T 1 

Enlistment; Journey to Regiment; First Picket 
Duty; Raid to Fredericks Hall. 

Chapter II . . . . . . . .8 

Night after Battle of Cedar Mountain; Death of 
Captain Walters at Rapidan; Retreat from 
Rapidan; Battle at Brandy Station. 

Chapter III 13 

Second Battle at Bull Run; Destruction of Sey- 
mour's Squadron; Death of Compton; A 
Wounded Soldier's Heroism; Fitz-John Porter's 
Message to Kilpatrick; Longstreet's Assault 
on Left of Pope's Army; To Alexandria to 
Refit. 

Chapter IV 20 

Refitting at Ball's Cross Roads; Skirmishing 
around Centerville; Advance after Antietam; 
Soldier's Opinion on McClellan's being Super- 
seded; Battle of Fredericksburg; Death of 
Bayard. 

Chapter V 23 

Detailed at General Gregg's Headquarters; The 
Stoneman Raid. 

Chapter VI 27 

Gettysburg Campaign; Battle at Brandy Sta- 
tion; Wounded at Stuart's Headquarters. 



vi CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Chapter VII 33 

Battles at Aldie, Middleburg, and Upperville. 

Chapter VIII 42 

Crossing the Potomac; Scenes in Frederick and 
Liberty; Girls' Boarding School at New Wind- 
sor; March to Gettysburg. 

Chapter IX 47 

Second and Third Days of Battle at Gettysburg; 
Gregg's Cavalry Engagement on the Right; 
Repulse of Stuart. 

Chapter X 54 

Day Following the Battle at Gettysburg; Com- 
pelling Citizens to Assist in Burying the Dead; 
Scenes in Gettysburg; Nick Finding John 
Burns; Following up Lee's Army; Wounded 
Confederates Left Behind. 

Chapter XI 58 

Return to Virginia; Crossing at Harper's Ferry; 
Battle at Shepherdstown; Confederate Prisoner 
Reporting the Condition of a Cousin in Con- 
federate Army; Advance from Sulphur Springs 
to the Rapidan. 

Chapter XII 62 

Transferred to General Kilpatrick's Head- 
quarters; Battle on Retreat from Cul- 
peper; Battle at Buckland's Mills; Granted 
a Furlough; Recommended for a Commission; 
Appointed a Second Lieutenant; Leaving Gen- 
eral Kilpatrick. 

Chapter XIII 71 

Joined 24th New York Cavalry at Auburn, 



CONTENTS vii 



N. Y.; Trip to Washington; At Camp Stone- 
man; March to Join Army of the Potomac; 
Experience at Battle of the Wilderness; First 
Sight of General Grant. 

Chapter XIV 78 

At Spottsylvania ; Finding Confederate Dead in 
Breastworks; Selected to Guide a Division to 
a Position for Night Assault; Sent to Wash- 
ington for Ammunition. 

Chapter XV 86 

Experience at North Anna and Cold Harbor; 
General Grant and Confederate Prisoner; 
Crossing the James; Assault on Works at 
Petersburg; Wounded; At Field Hospital; 
Journey to City Point and Seminary Hospital 
at Georgetown, D. C; Removal to Dobbs 
Ferry; Convalescence. 

Chapter XVI 96 

General D. McM. Gregg, General Kilpatrick, 
Colonel Henry C. Weir, General Walter C. 
Newberry, Colonel William C. Raulston, Gen- 
eral L. G. Estes, General E. W. Whitaker, 
Captain Theodore F. Northrop. 

Appendix A 103 

Appendix B 109 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Henry C. Meyer . 
Corporal Henry E. Johns . 
General Judson Kilpatrick 
Colonel Henry C. Weir . 
General D. McM. Gregg . 
General George A. Custer 
General E. W. Whitaker . 
Captain Theodore F. Northrop 
General L. G. Estes . 
Colonel W. C. Raulston . 
General Walter C. Newberry . 



Frontispiece 



G 
W 
24 
34 
48 
62 
66 
70 
72 
93 



Civil War Experiences 



CHAPTER I 

/^N the day Fort Sumter surrendered I was 
^^ seventeen years old, having been born April 
14, 1844. Like other boys, I proposed enlisting, 
but my father refused consent; and at that time 
youths under eighteen years would not be ac- 
cepted without the consent of parents. In July 
of the following year, when the news of McClel- 
lan's retreat on the Peninsula was published, I 
was satisfied that the Government would need 
more men, and having carefully considered the 
matter, and being then eighteen years of age, 
T decided to go without my father's consent. 
Seeing a newspaper item to the effect that Cap- 
tain Mallory, of the Harris Light Cavalry, had 
arrived in New York, and proposed to enlist 
some men for that regiment, I called upon him 
at the Metropolitan Hotel and made known my 
desire. He informed me that his recruiting 
of&ce was not then arranged, though he had 
engaged a room a little farther up Broadway, 
and his sergeant was preparing to open it. He 

1 



2 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 

seemed reluctant to take me, and talked to me 
as though I were too young to go, and as if 
I did not realize what I was about to under- 
take. I assured him that I had considered the 
matter well, and that I was physically strong; 
and that if he would not accept me I would 
try to enlist in Duryea's Zouaves, who were, at 
that time, enlisting men. He then told me to 
go up and see his sergeant and that he would 
come up later. I found the room, but the ser- 
geant, however, had not yet unpacked the papers. 
On getting them opened he said he was unable 
to make them out, whereupon I asked him to 
let me examine them, and proceeded to make 
out my own enlistment papers, the sergeant 
watching me. While I was thus engaged, a man 
with his arm off came in. He had just that day 
been discharged from the hospital, and inquired 
what steps he should take to get a pension, hav- 
ing been attracted by the flag hanging out of 
the of&ce window. I noticed the sergeant was 
particularly anxious to get him out of the room, 
evidently not considering him a desirable ac- 
quisition to facilitate recruiting. I explained 
to the man what he should do. The sergeant, 
when he saw me make out my enlistment papers, 
remarked, ^^ They won't keep you long in the 
ranks, because they can get better work for you 
to do," or words to that effect. I did not then 
comprehend what he meant, but my subsequent 
experience explained it. I was then sent to the 



CIVIL WAK EXPERIENCES 3 

examining physician, examined, passed, and 
sworn in for three years' service. 

That niglit I went to my home, at Dobb's 
Ferry, on the Hudson River, and reported what 
I had done, intending to leave for Washington 
the next morning, when I was promised trans- 
portation. This interview with my parents was 
quite unpleasant, as my father was very angry 
and my mother in great distress. At that time 
both my father and his friends regarded my 
action as worse than foolish and almost as bad 
as though I had done something disreputable. 
Indeed, as I was afterwards informed, one gen- 
tleman, remarked, "Well, that is too bad; that 
boy has gone to the devil, too." 

The following morning I bade my parents 
good-bye, feeling that if I were wounded or 
cripx^led I should not care to return home for 
them to take care of me. Subsequent letters 
from home, however, removed that feeling. The 
following night, having received transportation, 
I sailed as the only passenger on a freight trans- 
port from a pier near the Battery to South 
Amboy. I well remember my feelings as I 
watched New York receding in the distance, 
there being no excitement or hand-shaking or 
waving of flags such as accompanied the de- 
parture of the first troops that left New York 
for thirty days' service the year before. From 
Amboy I went on a coal train to Philadelphia. 

On landing at Walnut Street wharf I went 



4 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 

into the soldiers' refreshment room, maintained 
by the citizens of Philadelphia, which was open 
night and day, and at which all soldiers passing- 
through the city were fed free of charge. It 
was about two o'clock in the morning, very hot, 
and I was tired and depressed. Hence, when 
invited to j)artake of some refreshments, I was 
unable to do so but contented myself with eating 
a few pickles. 

I then Avalked across the city to the Baltimore 
depot, which was then at the corner of Broad 
and Pine Streets, and took a passenger train for 
Baltimore, which I reached about seven o'clock 
in the morning, sitting up, as there were no 
sleeping-cars in those days. On arriving in Bal- 
timore I walked to another part of the city to 
take the train for Washington. Meanwhile I 
wanted some breakfast. Going into a place 
which I supposed was a restaurant, I found that 
the only thing they could offer me was ice-cream. 
I thereupon ate some, and soon after took the 
train for Washington. In a few moments the 
Philadelphia pickles, the hot night, and the Bal- 
timore ice-cream i3roduced most severe cramps, 
and I was in a very distressed state of mind, 
fearing that I would never be able to reach the 
front, but would have to submit to the mortifi- 
cation of being returned home. 

Arriving in Washington, I went to Willard's 
Hotel, and, after a good sleep, was able to take 
my dinner that evening. I had on citizen's 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 5 

clothes and Avas not recognized as a private 
soldier in the United States Army, so the head- 
waiter assigned me to a seat at a table where 
General Halleck, the Commander-in-Chief of the 
Army, sat opposite. 

That evening, my uncle, E. V. Price, who was 
in Washington, met me at the hotel and took 
me to General Pope's room. The latter had just 
arrived in Washington to take command of the 
Army of the Potomac. My uncle procured a 
pass from him to enable me to go through the 
lines and join my regiment, the Second New 
York Cavalry (Harris Light). It was stationed 
at Falmouth, Virginia. J. Mansfield Davies was 
the colonel at that time, and Judson Kilpatrick 
the lieutenant-colonel. My uncle, who knew 
Colonel Davies, introduced me to him that even- 
ing at the hotel. The following morning I ac- 
companied him on the boat to Aquia Creek and 
reached the regiment on the evening of that day. 

In two or three days I received my uniform 
and a horse was given to me. The fact that I 
had been seen coming into camp with the Colonel 
led some of the non-commissioned officers and 
men of my company to assume that I did not 
intend to serve in the ranks, but would likely 
be commissioned shortly and probably be jumped 
over them, who had already been out some time, 
though they had not been in any battle, their 
previous service being confined to drilling and 
a skirmish or two. This made it very unpleas- 



6 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 

ant for me, and for a short time I was subjected 
to some little annoyance. 

As I wore to the front the best suit of citi- 
zen's clothes I had, a man in our company by 
the name of Rufus West proposed to buy them 
and agreed to pay me eleven dollars for them. 
That night he deserted and joined Mosby's com- 
mand, having made the remark before leaving 
that he did not " projDOse to fight to free niggers." 
He owes me the eleven dollars yet. 

In a day or tAvo I was assigned to picket duty 
with a man of my company, on the Rappahan- 
nock River, with instructions to keep a sharp 
lookout, as they said a female spy was expected 
to cross at that point. My comrade was Henry 
E. Johns, who enlisted from Hartford, Con- 
necticut. He appeared to take pity on me, and 
that evening we discussed our families and our 
affairs ; and at that time a warm attachment was 
formed, which lasted throughout the war, and 
since. As we were to remain on guard all night, 
he suggested that we should take turns, each 
being on watch, two hours on, and two hours 
off. Before morning I found it extremely diffi- 
cult to keep my eyes open, and several times 
walked to the river and washed my face in order 
to do so. Just before daylight it was my turn 
to go to sleep ; when I awoke and looked around, 
I found no one on watch. Looking beside me I 
found my comrade, also asleep. The place at 
which we were posted was inaccessible in the 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 7 

night from oiir lines, because it was at the foot 
of a deep ravine. I don't imagine any female 
spy crossed at that i^oint. If we had been 
caught asleep, however, it would have been an 
embarrassing position for both of us to have been 
placed in. 

A few days later the Harris Light Cavalry 
made a raid in tlie neighborhood of Fredericks 
Hall, Virginia, in which movement the command 
marched some ninety miles in thirty hours. This 
was hard on the men, and many of them were 
confined to their tents on their return to camp, 
from saddle boils and lameness, for a day or 
two. I found it difficult to keep awake on the 
march and picket, yet I was able to do duty 
without interruption. 

On this raid the regiment destroyed consider- 
able prox>erty, and many of the men carried 
away all sorts of things for which they had 
no use. Indeed, I heard Colonel Kilpatrick 
laughingly remark that one fellow, in his zeal 
to have something, actually had a grindstone on 
his saddle in front of him. After carrying it 
about a mile he concluded, however, that he had 
no further use for it, and dropped it in the road. 



CHAPTER II 

A FEW days afterwards tlie regiment marched 
through Culpeper and reached the battle- 
field of Cedar Mountain late on the day on which 
that engagement was fought. We approached 
the battlefield through what w^ould be called the 
rear, where we first saw the horrible sights 
accompanying a battle, which are always dead 
horses, broken caissons, bodies lying on the 
ground, and the wounded. On the front line 
these sights are not so prominent. 

The regiment was pushed to the front and 
placed on picket duty, I being posted on the 
edge of a piece of woods overlooking a valley,' 
on the opposite side of which was Slaughter 
Mountain, where Stonewall Jackson's army was 
supposed to be. 

While at my post on picket that night, an 
incident occurred w^hich made a deep impression 
upon me, doubtless due to the time and place 
and the incidents of the preceding two weeks. 
Before leaving home, I had promised my mother 
that I would read at least one verse in my 
Testament each day. Not having done so that 
day was due to the fact that we had been march- 
ing and to the excitement attending the reaching 

8 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 9 

of the battlefield and being put in position. I 
then took out my pocket Testament and went to 
a picket fire near where I was, leaning over to 
read a verse or two by its light, when I heard 
a rustle in the bushes. Immediately I grasped 
my weapons and was on the alert, when a colored 
man crawled through the bushes and said to 
me, '^ What 's that you got there, a Testament? " 
On admitting it, he said, " Do you know the 
chapter General Washington always used to read 
before he went into a fight? '' I told him I did 
not, whereupon he said, " You turn to the Ninety- 
first Psalm." '^ Now," he said, " you read it." 
I then read aloud : 

" Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare 
of the fowler and from the noisome pestilence. 

" He shall cover thee with His feathers and 
under His wings shalt thou trust; His truth 
shall be thy shield and buckler. 

" Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by 
night nor for the arrow that flieth by day. 

'' Nor for the pestilence that walketh in dark- 
ness, nor for the destruction that wasteth at 
noon day. 

" A thousand shall fall at thy side and ten 
thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not 
come nigh thee." 

At the reading of each of these verses he ex- 
claimed, " You see, he did n't get hit." The con- 
traband evidently was perfectly sincere in the 
belief that if I read this verse before a battle 



10 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 

I would never get hurt. He then went away. 
This incident, coupled with the facts that I had 
only been about ten days away from home, that 
I had seen the horrible sights of the battlefield 
the previous afternoon, that I could see the 
enemy's camp-fires across the valley, and that 
I was wondering what fate was in store for me 
the following day, — all tended to impress this 
incident upon my mind. 

The next morning the regiment advanced to 
the Rapidan River, presumably with the object 
of searching for the flank of Jackson's army. 
Just above the ford, which I think was Robert- 
son's, was the residence of the Confederate Gen- 
eral Taliaferro. Our picket line was between 
the house and the river. Captain Walters of 
my regiment had arranged Avith Mrs. Taliaferro 
to have breakfast at her house. She and her 
niece were engaged in a good-natured altercation 
with some of the men of my company, she re- 
peatedly remarking, " I want you men to under- 
stand that I am the granddaughter of Chief- 
Justice Marshall of the United States." When 
she had said this several times an Irishman of 
my company remarked, " And who the divil is 
he anyhow? " The disgust on her face may well 
be imagined. I had been polite in my remarks 
to her when she turned upon me and asked, 
"Aren't 3^ou from New Orleans?" I told her, 
"No," that I was from New York, when she shook 
her head sadly and said, "Well, I 'm surprised 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 11 

that apparently such a nice young man as you 
should be engaged in such a wicked cause as 
this/' The laughter of my comrades which 
greeted this remark was followed by their teas- 
ing me the rest of the cami^aign, calling me, 
" The nice young man and the wicked cause." 

About this time the pickets began firing, when 
Captain AYalters remarked, '^ I will go doAvn and 
see Avhat the matter is." He mounted his horse, 
started down the hill toward the ford, and in 
a moment or two was brought back dead, their 
sharpshooters having sliot him through the heart 
immediately after he left the house. This Avas 
the first time I had heard bullets whistle. 

That night Stonewall Jackson's moA^ement to 
the flank and rear of Pope's army resulted in 
the recall of the caA^alry and a night march 
through Culpeper to Brandy Station. We bi- 
A^ouacked for the night, but did not unsaddle. 
About daybreak we AAere attacked. Although 
I heard bullets whistle at the Rapidan RiA^er, 
where Captain Walters AA^as killed, this was tlie 
first real engagement 1 was in. In the early part 
of it we AAere supporting the skirmish line. 
Later in the day the battalion in which my com- 
pany AAas made a charge, led by Major Henry 
E. DaAies, in AA^hich a number were killed and 
.wounded, and some confusion ensued by reason 
of a railroad cut, into which the command rode, 
its existence not being knoAvn when the charge 
was ordered. Prior to this, in the retreating 



12 CIVIL WAE EXPERIENCES 

movements of that morning, my horse, which 
had become blind from the hard marching of 
the night before, fell in a ditch with me. He 
struggled out, and I was able to remount him, 
though we were quite hard pressed by the 
advancing enemy. 

The Harris Light Cavalry was one of the regi- 
ments of General George D. Bayard's brigade, 
which for sixteen successive days was under fire 
and engaged in most arduous service in covering 
the retreat of Pope's army and watching the 
fords on the Rappahannock River to detect the 
crossing of General Lee's troops. This con- 
tinuous service terminated with the second 
battle of Bull Run, where Lieutenant Compton, 
the only remaining officer with my company, was 
killed. This occurred the evening before the last 
day of the battle. 



CHAPTER III 

THERE had been some very severe fighting 
on the ]3art of King's division. We ap- 
proached the field from Manassas Junction, 
arriving about nine o'clock. As we were riding 
through this division, the men called out, " What 
regiment is that? " When we told them they 
arose and cheered us, for we had been with 
them on a former occasion. Then, as we were 
approaching the Centerville pike, Kilpatrick 
rode down the column calling out, " General 
MacDowell wants the Harris Light to take a 
battery." " Draw sabres.'' We drew sabres, put 
our cap bands under our chins, and turned into 
the pike, then to the left, moving a short dis- 
tance, and then into a field, also on the left, 
forming in column of squadrons. It was then 
too dark to see any distance ahead. My position 
was within one or two of the flank of my 
company, where I heard Kilpatrick order my 
squadron to go out into the road to charge this 
battery, which we could not see. As we were not 
the last squadron in the column, which happened 
to be Captain Seymour's, he said, " Never mind, 
take the last one," which was fortunate for us. 
In a moment or two we heard the clatter of 

13 



14 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 

the horses' hoofs on the pike, and then saw a 
sheet of fire from the enemy's lines some distance 
ahead, which I understood was on the edge of 
a piece of woods. This fire was also doing dam- 
age to our columns exposed to it, when the order 
was given for us to " wheel and retire," where 
we could get under cover. 

From this unfortunate charge only eleven men 
came back that night. It was said that they 
were subjected to not only the fire of the enemy 
but also from our infantry on the right of the 
road, who, hearing the clatter of the horses' 
hoofs, and unable to see what caused it, assumed 
it to be a charge of the enemy's cavalry, when 
they also opened fire. It was felt at the time 
that the ordering of this charge was a blunder, 
and yet it was one of the many blunders from 
which our volunteer army constantly suffered 
in the early years of the war. Kilpatrick was 
severely criticised in the regiment for it that 
night and the next day; little, however, was 
ever said about it in the reports. Whether Kil- 
patrick acted under superior orders or on his 
own initiative, I never learned. 

A few minutes after the regiment had retired 
a short distance. Sergeant Griswold came up 
and reported to Kilpatrick in my hearing that 
the enemy were advancing their lines, that our 
wounded were being captured, and that Lieu- 
tenant Compton of my company had been killed, 
and he showed where a bullet had passed through 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 15 

the collar of his coat as he wheeled when asked 
to surrender. Kilpatrick called for somebody to 
go with him as an orderly, as he wanted to find 
General Bayard and General McDowell. This 
I did, holding his horse while he was in con- 
ference witli these generals that night. 

The next morning we recovered the body of 
Lieutenant Compton, of whom we were very 
fond, and we succeeded in making a coffin out 
of three cracker-boxes from which we took out 
the ends; wrapping him in a blanket we buried 
him in this cracker-box coffin at the corner of 
the old stone house on the Centerville Pike. 
His friends subsequently recovered his remains. 
We all felt rather blue over the loss of comrades 
in the affair of the night before, which had 
seemed to us so needless. 

Among the pathetic incidents of that morning 
was one which indicated the unselfish heroism 
of a young soldier. Early in the day some of 
our men were looking over tlio battlefield of the 
night before for missing comrades, and one, I 
remember, spoke of having found a young boy, 
apparently not over eighteen years of age, lying 
with his shattered leg in a pool of blood. My 
comrade spoke to him saying, " I will go and 
get somebody to help carry you off,'' whereupon, 
the wounded boy faintly remarked : " I do not 
think you can do me any good, but during the 
night I heard groans coming from over the hill 
yonder, and I think if you go there you may 



16 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 

be able to save some one; but if you will give 
me a clriuk of water I will be much obliged.'' 
The man gave his canteen to the wounded boy 
and started off for help. On his return he found 
the boy, Avith the canteen clasped in his hands, 
dead. 

During the morning the armies were getting 
in position for the final struggle of the after- 
noon of that day, which, I think, was the thirty- 
first of August. Our regiment was lying in 
column of fours awaiting orders. That after- 
noon, with a view to saving our horses from 
the effect of shells dropping near us, Kilpatrick 
got permission to move the column to the right 
a little, so as to be out of range. While we 
were making this movement he happened to be 
riding alongside of me, I being in the ranks, 
when a staff-officer approached and greeted him, 
evidently some friend that he had known at 
West Point or in the regular army. This officer 
leaned forward and said in an earnest manner, 
" Whose cavalry is this? " Kilpatrick told him 
it was his. I then heard him say, " General 
Porter," meaning Fitz-John Porter, " is fearful 
that there is going to be a break. I wish you 
would deploy your cavalry in the rear of our 
lines and do not allow a man to pass through 
unless he is wounded." Whereupon Kilpatrick 
gave the order " By fours, left about wheel," and 
moved the regiment left in front and then into 
line, with the men at intervals in close skirmish- 




MAJOR GENERAL JUDSON KILPATRICK 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 17 

ing order. We no sooner had gotten into line 
and advanced toward the woods in which Fitz- 
John Porter's corps was, on the left of our 
army, than I heard the most terrific crashes of 
artillery and then the rattle of musketry. This 
was Longstreet's corps opening on us. In a few 
moments Porter's men came swarming out of 
the woods. After them came the Confederates, 
with their batteries close up with their infantry. 
Several times I saw our regiments rally, but 
they were completely overpowered and swept 
away, resistance being apparently impossible. 
It was this attack of Longstreet's with a su- 
perior force which Porter had predicted and 
which General Pope had refused to believe pos- 
sible, which resulted in the crushing of the left 
of our army, and the defeat of General Pope at 
the second battle of Bull Run. 

Having overhead the anxious message of Gen- 
eral Porter's staff-officer to Colonel Kilpatrick, I 
assumed that it was my duty to carry out in- 
structions literally, that is, I tried to stop every 
man I could from passing to the rear. When 
all our guns at that part of the field had lim- 
bered up, except those of one regular battery, I 
met a squad of men with a major making for 
the rear. I rode up and told them to go and 
lie down beside this battery until I could get 
more men to act as a support. He demurred, 
stating that it was no use, and at my remon- 
strating with him, one of his men, an Irishman, 



18 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 

spoke up and said, '' Who the divil are you to 
be talking that way to our officer? '' However, 
the major and his squad went with me and lay 
down alongside the battery, when I started for 
another squad. I had gone but a few rods when 
the major got up and went over the hill with 
his men. In the light of what I learned after- 
wards, the major and those who had seen fighting 
on the Peninsula had a better idea of the proper 
thing to do than I did with my boyish inexperi- 
ence; for that was no place for them to remain 
at that time. 

I then discovered that my regiment had with- 
drawn. W^hen I rode up to the commander of 
this battery, as he was limbering up his guns 
to retire, the enemy being almost up to him, and 
told him that I had been instructed to keep back 
stragglers, and asked him what I had better do, 
he smiled and replied, " The best thing you can 
do is to get out of here." I then proposed to 
stay with him until I found General Bayard. 
Pretty soon I met General Pope with his staff, 
and subsequently General Bayard, w^ho com- 
manded our brigade. Riding up to the latter I 
asked him if he knew where my regiment was. 
He turned and inquired where certain members 
of his staff and orderlies were, and on being told 
that some had had their horses shot, and reasons 
being given for the absence of others, he said, 
" You stay with me." I then rode with him 
over to the right, to the railroad cut, where 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 19 

Sigel's men had been fighting. I well recall 
how angry General Bayard was, talking to him- 
self and shaking his fist, evidently in a rage at 
the bad management w^hich had resulted in the 
defeat of our army. About ten o'clock that 
night Major Henry E. Davies of my regiment 
reported to General Bayard where the regiment 
was, and asked for instructions. It was back 
somewhere on the Centerville pike. I then asked 
the General if I might go back with Major 
Davies, as my little gray horse had only one 
shoe on, to which he consented. 

The next day the regiment marched to Alex- 
andria and reached the hills behind that town 
at night during a terrific rainstorm. I suc- 
ceeded in getting into a barn, where I slept 
soundly in my wet clothes until the sun was 
up the following morning. I w^ell remember the 
sensation when I awoke and saw the dome of 
the Capitol at Washington in the distance. 

Going into the town I got weighed in front 
of a sutler's tent, and, to my surprise, I had 
gained ^ye pounds since I had enlisted six weeks 
before. 



CHAPTER IV 

AT this time the regiment had one hundred 
and fifty- two men, as I recall it, present for 
duty; there were eleven men and no officers in 
my com]3any. AVe Avere ordered to Ball's Cross 
Road to refit, where we got new clothing and 
horses; a number of recruits were sent to us, 
and some of our sick and wounded men returned 
to duty. We were then sent out in the neigh- 
borhood of Centerville, where we were engaged 
in scouting and skirmishing with the enemy's 
cavalry while the Army of the Potomac was in 
Maryland during the Antietam campaign. 

On the return of Lee's army to Virginia, my 
regiment in Bayard's brigade was engaged in 
the various movements on the advance to Fred- 
ericksburg. The incident I most readily recall 
during this movement was the relieving of Gen- 
eral McClellan from the command of the army 
and superseding him by General Burnside. At 
that time the army idolized McClellan. I went 
to a stream for water one night, where I met 
an infantryman. He looked so badly that I 
asked him what the matter was, when he re- 
plied, "Haven't you heard the news?" I said, 
'' No." He then told me that General McClellan 

20 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 21 

had been removed, whereupon he began to cry. 
I went back to our bivouac, as we were on the 
march, and reported this. I recall that we sat 
up in groups till well into tlie night discussing 
this, and our conclusion was that we were being 
used as an examining board to try candidates 
for the next presidency. Of course, in writing 
of our impressions from our limited point of 
view at that time, I do not wish to convey the 
idea that I now think McClellan should not have 
been superseded. The only mistake was in 
selecting the man that superseded him. 

In due time the captain of my company, J. 
F. B. Mitchell, finding out that I had some 
clerical ability, as the sergeant who was present 
when I made out my enlistment papers prophe- 
sied, detailed me to make out the company-s 
pay-rolls and do whatever company writing there 
was to do, in consideration of which I was, for 
the time being, relieved from doing guard duty. 
This fact was known to the members of my com- 
pany who were then very friendly to me. 

The night before the battle of Fredericksburg 
I was on picket on the river's bank opposite the 
town, where I heard the enemy's artillery being 
put in position and men making speeches to the 
troops. During the battle, the regiment was on 
the field in reserve, occasionally under fire from 
shells but otherwise not actively engaged. Gen- 
eral Bayard, our brigade commander, was mor- 
tally wounded by a shell, dying the next day, the 



22 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 

date set for his wedding, he having requested a 
postponement of his leave of absence when he 
learned there was to be a battle. When our 
regiment recrossed the Ra]3pahannock I had no 
idea the army had been defeated; indeed, until 
we saw the New York papers we were ignorant 
of the fact. 



CHAPTER V 

SHORTLY after the battle of Fredericksburg, 
Captain Henry C. Weir, the adjutant- 
general of the division to which General D. 
McM. Gregg had then been assigned, asked an 
orderly who happened to be a member of my 
company, and who was then engaged carrying 
a despatch to his headquarters, if he could sug- 
gest a man in his regiment whom he could detail 
to act as clerk to make out returns and reports, 
his former clerk having gone home with the body 
of General Bayard. The man suggested me, and 
was told to request me to report to division 
headquarters. I remember being quite startled 
at this order, and, anxious to look as present- 
able as possible, I stripped and bathed in a 
brook, on the edges of which the ice had formed, 
before calling on Captain Weir. He questioned 
me as to my occupation before entering the 
army, which had been that of a clerk in my 
uncle's firm, T. B. Coddington & Co., metal im- 
porters, whom he knew by reputation. He also 
stated that he knew of my father's home on the 
Hudson River. Indeed, he manifested an in- 
terest in me, and, after giving me a copy of 
a tri-monthly report to look at, asked me if I 

23 



24 CIVIL WAE EXPERIENCES 

thought I could consolidate the several regi- 
mental reports, copies of which he showed me. 
I made the attempt and succeeded, whereupon 
he said he would ask General Gregg to have me 
detailed at his headquarters. That detail was 
made out in December, 1862. Though my rank 
was still that of a private, my position was much 
improved and my surroundings much more pleas- 
ant. I was treated with great consideration by 
Captain Weir, and was thereafter busily en- 
gaged while in winter quarters in performing 
the duties of an adjutant-general's clerk, Avhich 
included such writing as General Gregg required 
of me. 

At the time of the battle of Chancellorsville, 
Gregg's division went on what was known as 
the Stoneman raid to Richmond. On this move- 
ment and subsequently on the march, and in all 
engagements as long as I was with the General, 
I was sent with messages and orders the same 
as a staff-officer. 

On this raid I attracted the attention of Gen- 
eral Gregg and the headquarters staff by my 
ability to sleep on horseback when on the march. 
Captain Weir had given me a fine horse, which 
happened to be a very fast walker. It was Gen- 
eral Gregg's custom to ride alone at the head 
of his staff, occasionally inviting Dr. Phillips, 
the medical director of the division, to ride along- 
side of him. As soon as I would fall asleep, 
the bridle reins would naturally slacken and the 




BREVET LIEUTENANT COLONEL H. C. WEIR 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 25 

horse begin to forge ahead. My position in the 
column was in rear of the officers of the staff, 
and with the General's orderly and bugler. lu- 
vStead of restraining the horse, my comrades and 
the staff officers would open the way and urge 
him along while I, sitting upright but fast asleep, 
would ride alongside of our dignified General 
and sometimes ahead of him before he noticed 
me, when invariably he would wake me up, grab- 
bing me by the arm and saying, " Mej^er, wake 
up." Chagrined I would return to my place, the 
staff officers and orderlies greatly amused. This 
incident occurred so frequently on this Stone- 
man raid that it evidently made an impression 
on the General, because, meeting him some 
twenty years after the war at a reunion in Phila- 
delphia he, on greeting me, introduced me to a 
group of officers and immediately recalled the 
fact of my so often being asleep on horseback. 
One day my horse strayed from the road and 
followed a fence up a bank until he came to a 
point where the slope reached the fence and 
he could go no farther, when the General called 
out, " Wake him up, he will break his neck." 
The jolt of the horse, however, sliding down the 
slope into the road aAvakened me, though I did 
not fall off. The only penalty I suffered from 
sleeping on horseback was the occasional loss of 
a cap and the scratching of my face by the 
branches of trees, but it undoubtedly had much 
to do with my being able to withstand the 



26 CIVIL WAR EXPEEIENCES 

fatigue incident to our campaigns, since the fact 
is tliat I never was off duty for a single liour, 
by reason of siclvuess, during my whole term of 
service. 



CHAPTER VI 

ON the 9tli of June, 1863, occurred the battle 
of Brandy Station, in which more cavalry 
were engaged than in any battle of the Civil 
War. General Buford's division had crossed the 
Rappahannock River at Beverly Ford early in 
the morning. General Gregg's division crossed 
at Kelly's Ford, and General Duffie farther 
down the river, the latter being under General 
Gregg's command and supposed to accompany 
him. As we were approaching Brandy Station 
we heard the heavy cannonading of Buford's 
attack, when General Gregg, with the brigades 
of Colonel Windham and Colonel Kilpatrick, 
hurried to the battlefield. Around the station 
and between Culpeper and the Rappahannock 
the country was open and favorable for cavalry 
engagements. Indeed, there was one there at 
every advance and retreat of the army during 
1862 and 1863, I being present at three of them. 
As soon as we emerged from the woods near 
the station we saw the enemy on a hill near 
the Barber House, which was General Stuart's 
headquarters. We were approaching them prac- 
tically in their rear; their artillery, however, 
firing at us. General Gregg at once ordered 

27 



28 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 

Colonel Windham to charge with his three regi- 
ments — the First New Jersey, the First Pennsyl- 
vania, and the First Maryland; Kilpatrick's 
brigade at the time was coming on the field 
to our right. Windham charged this hill in 
columns of regiments, and it was a very thrill- 
ing sight to see these troops going up the slope 
in the bright June sun, their sabres glistening. 
As they neared the enemy General Gregg showed 
an enthusiasm that I had never noticed before. 
He started his horse on a gallop toward the 
house, swinging his gauntlets over his head and 
hurrahing, at the same time telling Captain 
Weir to ride over and direct Kilpatrick to 
charge at once. Captain Weir happened to be 
riding a horse that would always refuse a fence 
unless another went first. At this critical mo- 
ment his horse shied twice, when mine took the 
fence and I started to carry the order. As soon 
as my horse ^^'ent over Captain Weir's im- 
mediately followed. As he was the adjutant- 
general and directed to take the order, I rode 
up the hill supposing that w^hen Kilpatrick's 
brigade got there the enemy would be routed 
and I might get a prisoner. On arriving at 
Stuart's headquarters I found Windham's bri- 
gade in a hand-to-hand fight around the house. 
Here I met a flanking party of the enemy, who 
were driving back a portion of General Wind- 
ham's command, Kilpatrick's men not then 
having reached that point. 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 29 

In the fight about these headquarters I saw 
a Confederate officer sabre a man who I be- 
lieve belonged to the ^Maryland regiment; and 
although the man begged for quarter, I saw this 
officer strike him twice after he offered to sur- 
render. I tried to shoot him, but the ball from 
my iDistol missed him and struck his horse. This 
did not take immediate effect. Finding that I 
was about to be cut off, as Windham's command 
had been repulsed and Kilpatrick had not ar- 
rived, and having only one charge left in my 
revolver, I had to allow the officer to ride up 
to strike me, so as to be sure of my aim. As 
I ijresented the pistol, it missed fire, and as soon 
as he could recover his seat in the saddle he 
struck at me. I had, however, fallen down on 
the neck of my horse, so the point of the sabre 
cut into my collar-bone, but the weight of the 
blow cut a two-quart pail, that I had borrowed 
that morning to cook coffee in, nearly in two. 
Before either of us could recover control of our 
horses, I had gotten my sabre in my hand, Avhich 
had been hanging by a knot from my wrist, as 
was the custom. He then struck at me the 
second time, which blow I parried. His horse 
then sank under him. I was then being crowded 
in a corner, where a fence joined a building, by 
four of his followers, one of whom was dis- 
mounted. The latter I saw shooting at me. Urg- 
ing my horse he jumped a fence and then a ditch 
beyond it. This enabled me to escape with only 



30 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 

the loss of my hat. I was particularly anxious 
not to be captured, because before going into 
the action the General had confided to me, for 
safe-keeping, all his despatches and instructions, 
which it was my custom to carry about my per- 
son, as, wearing a private's uniform, in the event 
of capture, there would be less liability of my 
being searched than in the case of a staff-officer 
wearing the uniform of an adjutant-general. I 
finally joined some of our men near the rail- 
road station, but could not find the General ; so, 
for the time being, I reported to an officer of 
the First New Jersey cavalry, whom I knew, 
and remained with him until we were again cut 
off by a force of the enemy. Later in the day 
I found General Gregg, who, I was told, had 
been quite anxious lest I had been captured, for 
some one had reported that he had seen me hard 
pressed by the enemy, and he supposed I was 
captured, and the General knew^ I had his papers 
in my pocket. 

My wound was not dangerous, though painful, 
and that night, after it was plastered up by the 
doctor, I sat up and made out a list of the 
casualties of the division during the day. When 
it was suggested by Adjutant-General Weir, that 
I include my name, I remarked that I thought 
I would not do it, as seeing it in the news- 
papers would needlessly alarm my mother, and 
that it did not amount to anything serious, and 
was n't worth while. After the war, however, 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 31 

on the advice of friends, I reported this circum- 
stance to the War Department and had it cer- 
tified by both General Gregg and Colonel 
Weir,^ who are still living, merely to make it 
a part of my record there on file. 

Kilpatrick's men soon reached the house, cap- 
turing Stuart's adjutant-general and his papers. 
The fighting was desperate; charges being made, 
repulsed, and repeated by our men against a 
much larger force, as Duffie's brigade had failed 
to report. Finally, the Confederates bringing 
infantry from Culpeper, our commands were 
withdrawn, without molestation by the enemy, 
across the Rappahannock, the purpose of the 
movement being accomplished; w^hich was to 
cripple Stuart's cavalry, to prevent his starting 
on a raid to Pennsylvania which was contem- 
plated, and also to ascertain if Lee's army was 
still in that vicinity. It was also a great bene- 
fit to our troops engaged, in giving them experi- 
ence in fighting in large bodies mounted, with 
sabres, and added much to their confidence, as 
was demonstrated in later engagements. 

After the battle, meeting the man who loaned 
me his tin pail which had been destroyed by the 
sabre blow I described, I explained to him how 
it happened, when, to my surprise, he complain- 
ingly remarked, " Well, how do you suppose I 
am going to cook my coffee? " Whereupon, I 

1 See Appendix B. 



32 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 

remarked, " Well, I can't help it, but I will 
give you a new pail as soon as I can buy 
one.'' Evidently the loss of his coffee boiler 
was of more consequence to him than my narrow 
escape. 



CHAPTER VII 

IN about ten days General Gregg's division 
marched towards Aldie, tlie object being to 
discover the movements of Lee's army; the idea 
being that our cavalry should find their cavalry, 
attack and drive them back on their infantry, 
thus obtaining the knowledge the commander of 
the army required. On this march to Aldie Gen- 
eral Pleasanton, the corps commander, was rep- 
resented at General Gregg's headquarters by one 
of his staff officers, Captain George A. Custer, 
afterwards General. When Custer appeared he 
at once attracted the attention of the entire com- 
mand. On that day he was dressed like an 
ordinary enlisted man, his trousers tucked in 
a pair of short-legged government boots, his 
horse equipments being those of an ordinary 
wagon master. He rode with a little rawhide 
riding whip stuck in his bootleg, and had long 
yellow curls down to his shoulders, his face 
ruddy and good-natured. 

While on this march we came to a stream be- 
side the road, in which a full battalion could 
water their horses at once. As the headquarters 
staff and the troops following us had gone into 
line to permit their horses to drink, Custer, for 

33 



34 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 

some reason, concluded to go in on the other 
side of the stream, riding in alone to allow his 
horse to drink. He did not know how deep the 
water was, and after his horse was satisfied, in- 
stead of returning by the way he went in, con- 
cluded to cross the stream and come out on our 
side. The water was deeper than he anticipated 
and his horse nearly lost his footing. However, 
when he got to our side, he urged his horse to 
climb out at a point where the bank was steep. 
In this effort he fell over backward, Custer going 
out of sight in the water. In an instant, how- 
ever, he was up on his feet and the horse 
struggled out amid the shouts of the spectators, 
when, mounting his horse, the march was re- 
sumed. The dust at this time was so thick that 
one could not see more than a set of fours ahead, 
and in a few minutes, when it settled on his 
wet clothes and long wet hair, Custer was an 
object that one can better imagine than I can 
describe. 

In a short time, Kilpatrick, at the head of our 
column, met Fitzhugh Lee's command at Aldie, 
and drove it through the town, where a desperate 
fight occurred just beyond it, the enemy being 
strongly posted there behind stone walls. As 
soon as the first shots were heard, General Gregg 
hurried to the front and took his position on 
a hill just beyond and to the right of the town, 
upon which Kilpatrick had posted a battery. It 
was then found that Kilpatrick was outnum- 




BREVET MAJOR GENERAL D. McM. GREGG 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 35 

bered, all liis command had been charging and he 
had no reserves. General Gregg then directed 
me to go back and bring Colonel Irwin Gregg, 
commanding the Second Brigade, by a short cut 
back of the town, through the woods, to this 
part of the field as quickly as possible. Just as 
I w^ent over the ridge to carry this order, I met 
the First Maine cavalry, with Colonel Doughty 
at its head, coming onto the field. As I passed 
him, the Colonel, who knew me, laughingly re- 
marked, " You are going in the wrong direction. '' 
I replied : '' Yes, I know it, but I will be back 
in a few minutes.'' Very shortly I returned to 
this spot with Colonel Gregg at the head of his 
brigade, when I saw a man leading a horse upon 
which was a body, evidently dead, as his arms 
were hanging on one side and the feet on the 
other, a man supporting it. Inquiring, " Whom 
have you got there? " the man replied, " Colonel 
Doughty." Tlie Colonel, who was a most gal- 
lant man, as soon as he arrived on the field 
at a moment most critical for Kilpatrick, charged 
at the head of his regiment, routing a charge of 
the enemy that had repulsed the Fourth New 
York, and then charged upon dismounted men 
behind stone walls, where he received two bul- 
lets through his breast. It was reported that 
night that some of the prisoners we had taken 
had said that the old fellow riding at the head 
of his regiment seemed so brave they hated to 
shoot him. This charge, however, routed the 



36 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 

enemy, and, Irwin Gregg having arrived with 
his remaining regiments, they withdrew. 

That night was rather a blue time for us. 
Lieutenant Whitaker, a fine officer of my regi- 
ment, was among the killed, and the First 
Massachusetts cavalry had suffered severely. 
Our men induced a wheelwright in the village 
to work that night making coffins for some of 
the officers who had been killed. 

On the second day after occurred the fight 
at Middleburg. On this occasion Colonel Irwin 
Gregg's brigade had the advance. The enemy 
had been forced back to a strong position on a 
ridge, their lines occupying the right and left 
of the turnpike in the edge of woods covering 
the ridge on both sides of the road. On the 
right, in front of the enemy, was a cleared field, 
on the far side of which were also woods in 
which Colonel Gregg liad two of his regiments, 
one dismounted, and one mounted ready to 
charge at a favorable moment. The Tenth New 
York cavalry was down the road in reserve. 
The enemy's battery was posted on the left of 
the pike and on our right as we faced them. 
Just below this battery, the ground receding, 
was a large wheat field and behind a stone wall 
parallel to the pike they had a line of dismounted 
men, their battery firing into the woods where 
Colonel Gregg's two regiments were. General 
Gregg was with our battery on a ridge some 
distance back. As the enemy were making a de- 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 37 

termined stand General Gregg turned to me and 
said : " Ride up to Colonel Gregg, present my 
compliments, and ask him why he does not drive 
those people out of there.'' As I rode to de- 
liver this message I wondered how Colonel Gregg 
would receive it from me, who Avas not then a 
commissioned officer, though he knew me as the 
General's clerk. 

When I reached the woods in which his com- 
mand was, I started to ride in, when an orderly 
holding a couple of horses called out, " Here, 
you can't go mounted through there." Asking 
him then if Colonel Gregg was in there he re- 
plied that he was, and that he was holding his 
horse. Leaving my horse with this man I walked 
through the woods on the edge of which was 
Colonel Gregg's line. He was standing with his 
shoulder against a tree at the very front of it. 
As I approached him he reached out, grabbed 
me by the arm, saying, '' Keep back, they will 
hit you," and drew me up alongside of him where 
we were someAvhat protected by the tree. He 
then said, '' Well, what is it? " I then repeated 
General Gregg's message, expecting an irritated 
reply, since it seemed to imply a censure. In- 
stead of that, he, in tiie mildest manner possible, 
said : '' I will tell you. You see their line across 
this clearing? " Replying " Yes," he continued: 
'' You see where their guns are on the right of 
the road covering this, and you also see a line 
of dismounted men behind that stone wall at 



38 CIVIL WAK EXPERIENCES 

the wheat field. Now, if I order a charge across 
there it will be subjected to an enfilading fire 
from those men behind the wall and it will be 
very expensive of men/' He then asked me if 
the General had a spare regiment that he could 
send around in a ravine beyond the wheat field, 
have them dismount and crawl through the 
wheat unobserved and attack the men who 
were facing him from behind the stone wall. I 
told him there was, and he asked me to go back 
and explain the matter, saying, " If the General 
will send some men to get those fellows started 
behind that wall I will charge.'' I returned 
and described the situation to General Greo^", 
who directed a battalion of the Harris Light, I 
think, to make a detour, crawl through the wlieat 
field, and attack the men behind the wall, who 
were practically right under the guns of the 
enemy, which were, however, firing over their 
heads across the road into the woods from which 
they were expecting a charge to be made. The 
General then directed me to return and tell 
Colonel Gregg to charge as soon as the men 
behind tlie stone wall were attacked. In due 
time the Harris Light suddenly appeared only 
a few rods in the rear of the Confederates behind 
the wall, who, without any warning, received a 
volley in their backs. They were at once in 
confusion and at that moment the bugle sounded 
the charge and the First Maine and Fourth 
Pennsylvania from tlie woods, and the Tenth 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 39 

New York in column on the turnpike, charged 
and took the ridge, the Confederate battery get- 
ting away just in the nick of time. I recall see- 
ing the body of one of their colonels lying out 
in the turnpike just near where their guns had 
stood. This finished the fight for that day. 
This incident is mentioned somewhat in detail 
because I think that Colonel Gregg's coolness 
and solicitude for the safety of his men, where, 
by the use of a little strategy a needless loss 
of life was saved, deserve recognition. 

The following day, which I think was Sunday, 
the three divisions of the cavalry corps, includ- 
ing General Gregg's, drove the enemy steadily 
back without much resistance on their part 
until we reached Upperville. There was open 
country at the outskirts of the town, and to the 
left as we approached it were woods. As our 
men attempted to charge down the main street 
they were met by a murderous fire from behind 
a high hedge, and at the same moment the enemy 
charged from the woods on the left and drove 
them back. For a few minutes the situation 
seemed most critical, and just then a piece of 
shell struck General Gregg's horse in the stomach 
behind the saddle girth, grazing the General's 
leg. The horse sank under him and in an in- 
stant one of his orderlies dismounted, gave the 
General his horse, and took the saddle from the 
wounded animal. At this moment General Gregg 
ordered a cavalry regiment, I think the Sixth 



40 CIVIL WAE EXPEEIENCES 

Eegiilars, who were nearby in a field, to make 
a counter charge, which, after a little delay 
caused by the presence of a stone wall, they 
did. This charge, with our men, who rallied, 
co-operating, resulted in driving the enemy back 
into and through the town. To our surprise, 
the General's wounded horse had struggled to 
his feet and was running beside him with his 
nose against his leg, his entrails dragging on 
the ground. Noticing this, he exclaimed, " For 
God's sake, somebody shoot him ! " Whereupon 
I discharged my pistol in the horse's ear, which 
killed him. 

Just then, as we approached the entrance to 
the town, I heard Nick, the General's bugler, 
calling me to come and help him. Looking 
around I found Nick trying to ward oif the 
blows of an infuriated German of our army, 
who was trying to sabre a Confederate boy who 
had been wounded and was lying down on his 
horse's neck. I immediately interfered, and with 
my sabre parried a blow intended for the boy, 
when the German excitedly exclaimed, " Vy, he 's 
a Reb," when I replied, " Suppose he is, can't 
you see he's done for?" Whereupon, after a 
brief altercation the German rode on. Nick 
then led the boy's horse out, and the command 
moved on, the enemy having broken. We soon 
met one of our doctors, and being anxious to 
know if the boy was mortally wounded, we took 
him to a nearbv house where three ladies came 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 41 

to the gate, and, when they saw it was a Con- 
federate soldier, began to cry. We carried him 
to a room, turned a chair up for him to recline 
on, when the doctor opened his shirt and found a 
bullet had entered his breast. The boy turned to 
the women who were standing around, pointed 
to little Nick, and faintly remarked, " There 's 
the only friend I had to-day." We then left the 
doctor with him, mounted our horses, rode on, 
and soon joined the General. 

The enemy were driven to Ashby's Gap. This 
battle and those of the preceding days demon- 
strated the fact that Lee's army was on its way 
to Maryland. 



CHAPTER YIII 

GP^NERAL HOOKER, commander of the 
Army of the Potomac, having been satis- 
fied, as a result of the cavalry engagements here 
described, that General Lee intended to invade 
IMaryland, Gregg's division, as did the rest of 
the army in a few days, crossed the Potomac at 
Edward's Ferry at night. It was moonlight, and 
I, in common with others, experienced a strange 
sensation as we watched our columns crossing 
the pontoon bridges, the bands playing, Maryland , 
my Maryland. We then marched for Frederick, 
reaching that city before noon of the next day. 
As we rode down its main street we witnessed 
a sight the like of which we had been unfamiliar 
with, since in Virginia, being the enemy's coun- 
try, the peoi)le when we entered a town either 
concealed themselves, or, when seen, showed by 
their demeanor that they either detested or 
feared us. In Frederick, however, every house 
was decorated and the porches filled with j)eo- 
ple enthusiastically waving and making every 
demonstration of delight. We soon after 
marched through Liberty and to New Windsor. 
In the former j)lace we met our infantry pass- 
ing through the town as we rode in. Here we 

42 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 43 

saw ladies with servants standing in the streets 
beside the marching column, handing out cakes, 
milk, and lemonade to the tired and dusty in- 
fantrymen, who were not permitted to halt, one 
lady remarking in my presence, " Is n't it a 
shame that they won't allow them to rest." 

Later in the day we stopped at New Windsor, 
where the General made his headquarters at the 
little village hotel. Near this hotel, Johns, the 
General's orderly, and I were offered refresh- 
ments by a lady who kept a young ladies' board- 
ing school. At this school were about fourteen 
enthusiastic young girls who overwhelmed us 
with attentions. Indeed, they took the ribbons 
from their necks and braided the manes of our 
horses with them, and mine had a red, white, 
and blue rosette attached to his forelock. We 
soon moved on, but that night the General was 
ordered to return to this town. On getting this 
information I mentioned it to my comrade Johns, 
and suggested that as soon as it got a little dark 
we should ride on ahead of the column, when 
we might again meet the schoolgirls, which we 
subsequently did. The General made his head- 
quarters at the little hotel beside the school- 
building, and we took our horses inside the 
village cemetery adjoining the school-gTOunds 
and tied them to the fence, taking off the sad- 
dles, and spreading our blankets on the ground. 
As we were drawing them over our heads on 
turning in for the night, we heard a call from 



44 CIVIL WAK EXPERIENCES 

one of the upper windows of the school, which 
was filled with faces, telling us to remember 
our dreams, for dreams dreamt on a strange 
pillow often came true. We knew^ no more till 
about daylight, when we awakened and found it 
had been raining. While we were feeding and 
gTooming our horses, a servant came to us with 
an invitation from the mistress of the school, 
stating that breakfast would be ready for us 
in a few minutes, and that we would find water, 
soap, and towels on the back porch where we 
" might refresh ourselves.-' We soon repaired to 
the porch where we found two white china 
basins, and fresh water, soap, and towels. This 
was a novelty, as hitherto a piece of a gTain 
bag which we carried in our saddle-pocket was 
what we used when a towel was necessary. The 
breakfast-table was spread on the back jDorch. 
Noticing the General's horse saddled, we ex- 
pressed a fear that he might start while we were 
at breakfast, when the lady proposed to have the 
table removed to the front porch where we could 
see the General when he came out to mount. 
This was done and at this most bountiful meal 
we had about a dozen girls to wait on us, each 
with her album for us to write our autographs in. 
The General soon appeared, when, thanking the 
ladies for their hospitality, we moved on. As 
soon as Captain Weir, the adjutant-general, saw 
me he began to censure me for being absent that 
night as he had a lot of writing to do which I 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 45 

should have done, when one of the staff-officers, 
noticing my horse's mane and the rosette on his 
forelock, pointed them out to him. He, evi- 
dently appreciating the situation, withheld any 
further comment. 

Within the next day or so we marched to 
Westminster and to Manchester, leaving the 
latter place by daylight for York, where it was 
reported the Confederate cavalry Avere, and 
Gregg was sent to attack them. We reached 
the hills beyond York some time that afternoon 
and saw their i)ickets. Just at this time a de- 
spatch was received from the corps commander 
stating that fighting had begun at Gettysburg 
and that General Gregg was to report there with 
his command with all possible speed. He there- 
upon started the column for Gettysburg by way 
of Hanover. We marched the rest of that after- 
noon and through the night, reaching Hanover 
about two o'clock in the morning. As in many 
Pennsylvania towns, this had a public square, 
at one end of which was a market-house with 
a road on either side of it, and the General had 
to awaken some of the citizens to ascertain 
which was the direct road to Gettysburg. We 
noticed dead horses in the streets of Hanover, 
and the citizens told us of the fight Kilpatrick's 
division had had there the afternoon before, in 
which he succeeded in driving away the Con- 
federate cavalry that attacked him as he was 
passing through the town. While the General 



46 CIVIL WAK EXPEEIENCES 

was waiting to ascertain the right road to 
Gettysburg, I fell asleep sitting on a zinc-covered 
fish stall, my bridle rein in my hand. On awak- 
ing I discovered the command had all moved 
on; learning the road they took, I hurried on 
and soon overtook them. 



CHAPTEE IX 

GENERAL GREGG reached the battlefield 
of Gettysburg about noon and reported to 
the commanding general, whose headquarters 
were not far from the cemetery, where I noticed 
that the sod and the graves were much torn 
up by artillery wheels. The General was ordered 
with his division to take position on the right 
of our army. During the day a portion of the 
command did some skirmishing, and our artil- 
lery occasionally fired when the enemy appeared, 
but we were not heavily engaged. This was the 
second of July, the day on which the fighting 
was so severe on the left of our line, where 
Longstreet's corps made such desperate attempts 
to break through in the vicinity of the Round 
Tops. 

The weather was extremely hot and it was on 
this, the second day of the battle, that the Sixth 
Corps made a march of about thirty-two miles 
to reach the field, their exhausted and sun-struck 
men lying for fifteen miles on the road. The 
following, the third and last day of the battle. 
General Gregg's division was, at his suggestion, 
moved to a position farther to the right and 
rear, to guard against the enemy's breaking 

47 



48 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 

through to where our reserve artillery and am- 
munition were i^arked. About noon a despatch 
was sent to him stating that General Howard 
reported that heavy clouds of dust were seen 
rising above the trees on his right, indicating 
that a large force of cavalry was moving in that 
direction. General Custer with his brigade, 
which belonged to General Kili)atrick's division 
but had been under General Gregg's orders, was 
about to return to Kilpatrick, who was on the 
left of the army, when General Gregg proposed 
to Custer that, in view of an attack from a 
strong force which now seemed imminent, he 
remain with him, which Custer gladly consented 
to do. 

I described Custer as he appeared when, as a 
captain, he was with us at Aldie about two weeks 
before, where, after his ducking, he voluntarily 
led repeated charges of Kilpatrick's men, attract- 
ing the attention of every one present by his 
conspicuous gallantry. Within that two weeks 
he, with FarnsAvorth, Merritt, and Kilpatrick, 
had been made brigadier-generals. Kilpatrick 
was given the command of Stahl's division, 
Farnsworth one of his brigades, and Custer a 
brigade of four Michigan regiments. In marked 
contrast with Custer's costume on the day of the 
fight at Aldie, he now appeared in a uniform 
consisting of a black velvet jacket and trousers, 
with a gold cord on the seam of his trousers 
and the gilt stripes of a brigadier-general on his 




MAJOR GENERAL GEORGE A. CUSTER 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 49 

arm. He wore a man-o- war's man's shirt with the 
wide collar out on his shoulders, on each point 
of which was worked a silver star indicating 
his rank of brigadier-general. The neck was 
open, just as a man-o'-war's man has his, and he 
w^ore a sailor's tie. On this day he wore a small 
cap. It was said at the time, that some months 
before, soon after he came out of West Point, 
friends tried to secure for him the colonelcy of 
the Fifth Michigan cavalry, at this time com- 
manded by Lieutenant-Colonel Russell A. Alger, 
but, like many volunteers of that period, the men, 
in their inexperience, preferred officers from the 
civilians who came out with them, and declined 
to have Custer. It therefore happened that the 
man tliey refused to have as their colonel was 
sent to be their general, and under his leadership 
the Michigan cavalry brigade became famous. 

The enemy had placed some batteries on our 
left and front, and advanced from the woods in 
our front. Colonel Mcintosh's brigade met their 
attacks, a part of his command being dismounted. 
His entire force soon became hotly engaged, and 
also the Fifth and Sixth Michigan regiments. 
General Gregg stationed himself near his bat- 
teries, where he could see the field and direct 
the battle; one of these was Randol's and the 
other commanded by A. C. M. Pennington, both 
famous batteries, Randol's to the right and Pen- 
ington's to the left. In this engagement the fire 
of these batteries, especially Pennington's, was 



50 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 

remarkably accurate, compelling the enemy at 
times to shift their guns, and contributed in no 
small measure to our success. 

After the fighting had been in progress for 
some little time, Custer took off his cap, placed 
it in his saddle-pocket and led the Seventh 
Michigan cavalry in a charge, his yellow hair 
flying and his uniform making him a conspicuous 
object. The Seventh was a new regiment and 
was armed with a Spencer rifle which carried 
one cartridge in the barrel and seven in the 
breech; this was the first time I had seen this 
weapon. This charge was over a very consid- 
erable distance, with the result that the lines 
were somewhat extended so that when they came 
close to the enemy behind a fence and were met 
by a fresh body of Confederate cavalry char- 
ging them, they were repulsed. Being a new 
regiment, many of the men rode wildly past 
Mclntosh-s command and up to and beyond our 
guns. I think it was during this affair that 
General Custer's horse was shot. I heard him 
remark after the fight that he would have been 
captured except for the fact that one of his 
buglers caught a horse for him and held off the 
man who wanted him to surrender. Meanwhile 
I had been sent to Colonel Mcintosh and was 
with him when the Seventh Michigan men came 
back past his dismounted lines. He was making 
heroic efforts to rally them, fairly frothing at 
the moutli and yelling, ^' For God's sake, men, 



CIVIL WAE EXPERIENCES 51 

if you are ever going to stand, stand now, for 
you are on your free soil ! " 

It was just before this tliat we discovered 
Stuart's final advance, by Hampton's and Fitz- 
Hugli Lee's brigades, which Hampton led i)ast 
IMcIntosli's dismounted men, charging right up 
to within about fifty yards of our guns. Believ- 
ing that, if the guns were taken, there was 
nothing to prevent the enemy from getting at 
the reserve artillerj^ and ammunition trains in 
our rear, it seemed the crisis for us, as it was 
also about the time Pickett was advancing 
against the centre of our army's line of battle. 
I took a position between two guns, which I 
think were in charge of Lieutenant Chester, who 
excited my admiration by his coolness, and there 
awaited the expected struggle over them. The 
elffect of Pennington's and RandoFs firing on 
Hampton's brigades was soon noticeable, for the 
momentum of their charge seemed to be checked 
when they were about one hundred and fifty 
yards from our guns. Our batteries were then 
firing canister into them. 

Two gallant charges were made into Hamp- 
ton's columns as they came on. Captain Trichel 
with about sixteen men of Mcintosh's brigade, 
including Captains Walter Newhall and Rogers, 
suddenly appeared and charged into them from 
the right, creating some confusion. Newhall 
tried to make for a color-bearer, who lowered 
his staff, striking him in the mouth, knocked him 



52 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 

from his horse, and tore his face open. Trichel, 
his officers, and nearly all of his men were 
wounded. About the same time Captain Miller 
of the Third Pennsylvania with his company 
charged right through the rear part of the 
column from the left. Hampton had led his 
men to within about fifty yards of Chester's 
guns, when suddenly the First Michigan cavalry, 
a veteran and very fine regiment, led by Colonel 
ToT\Tie, with Custer by his side, appeared. The 
Colonel, in tlie last stages of consumption it 
was said, required assistance to mount his horse. 
This regiment, which from my position I had 
not seen, struck the enemy in front and flank, 
right before our guns, which only then ceased 
firing. Immediately staff-officers, orderlies, and 
the men that a moment before had been coming 
to the rear joined in a hand-to-hand fight in 
front of the batteries. In a few minutes the 
enemy broke to the rear and our men, joined 
by the First New Jersey, Third Pennsylvania, 
Fifth and Sixth Michigan which had mounted, 
chased them nearly to the woods from which 
they had emerged some three quarters of a mile 
in our front. 

This ended General Gregg's cavalry fight at 
Gettysburg, the fortunate outcome of which un- 
doubtedly contributed greatly to the victory. 
Immediately word was sent to headquarters of 
our success and in a short time a brief note 
was received from, I think. General Butterfield, 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 53 

General Meade's chief of staff, written on a slip 
of paper about the size of an envelope. The 
words, as I recall, w^ere : '' Congratulations upon 
your success; attack here repulsed. Longstreet 
wounded and a prisoner.'- The reference to 
Longstreet was a mistake, Armistead was meant. 
Riding along the lines I called out the contents 
of this note to our men, who began cheering, for 
we then knew that the battle of Gettysburg had 
been won. 



CHAPTER X 

THE following morning our burial i^arties 
were at work, when a man from a Michi- 
gan regiment came and asked me if I would 
help him look for some of his comrades in a 
wheat field; the wheat being about three feet 
high it was not easy to notice a body in it un- 
less one stumbled right on it. In a few minutes 
he called out that he had found one and then 
he said he had another. As the burial party 
was digging a trench on the ridge just beyond, 
I suggested that he stay where he was to mark 
the location and I would ride over and get some 
of the citizens, whom we noticed plundering 
the battle-field of horse equipments, to help carry 
the bodies over so they might be buried. I rode 
up to two or three men who had harness, saddles, 
and horse equipments in their possession and 
told them to drop them and come over to help 
me carry the bodies that we might bury them, 
as we had to move on shortly. They were a 
type of Pennsylvania Dutchmen that lived in 
that county, who seemed utterly indifferent to 
the war and anything pertaining to it, beyond 
securing such spoils as they got on the 
battle-field. They at once demurred and said 

54 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 55 

they had no time, whereupon I flew into a rage 
at their heartless conduct, drew my sabre, and 
threatened to sabre them if they did not come 
at once. They then sulkily complied. When 
we got back to where the bodies were I told 
them to take some fence rails and carry them 
as though they were a stretcher. We put the 
bodies across the rails, the men holding the ends 
of them. When we had two bodies on this im- 
provised stretcher I discovered a Confederate 
soldier, a sergeant, with a bushy head of red 
hair and a red beard. A sabre had split open 
the top of his head so you could put your hand 
in the gash. I suggested that he be cared for 
too, and when we attempted to put him on the 
stretcher they complained that they could not 
carry the load. Then I rode after some more 
citizens whom I also compelled to come over 
and help us. With their assistance we suc- 
ceeded in getting a number of bodies up to 
where the burial party was at work. When I 
told my Michigan comrade of my experience 
with these men he became so angry that I 
thou.i^ht he would shoot them then and there. 

The General then moved into the town of 
Gettysburg, where, in contrast to the heartless 
conduct of these men, we found patriotic women 
at work in every house pulling lint and doing 
what they could to alleviate the suffering that 
was all around them. One lady, who, I was 
told, was the wife of a physician killed on the 



56 CIVIL WAK EXPERIENCES 

Peninsula, came out on the front porch and 
asked every soldier she saw to come in and have 
hot coffee and biscuit. The men gave her coffee, 
which she made in a wash-boiler, but the bis- 
cuits Avere made from flour she possessed, which 
by this time was about exhausted. As it was 
likely to be several days before normal condi- 
tions could be restored in the town, I suggested 
that she had better cease baking biscuits and 
save the little flour she had for her family, when 
she replied that she would take the chance, that 
as long as she had any she was going to give 
it to the soldiers. 

About this time Nick, the General's bugler, 
came to me and reported that he had found a 
citizen who had fought with our troops and been 
wounded, an old man, and Nick wanted a doctor 
to go and see him as he was in his own house 
nearby. This citizen proved to be the famous 
John Burns, an old man of seventy, who fought, 
I think with a Wisconsin regiment. Whether 
anybody else had discovered Burns before Nick 
did I am not sure, but my recollection is that 
Nick's discovery first called the attention of our 
people to the fact. 

General Gregg's command then moved out on 
the Chambersburg pike, where for miles we saw 
the distressing evidences of the battle in the 
shape of the Confederate wounded, who were in 
every barn and building and lying beside the 
road. It had rained heavily the night before 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 57 

and tlie lields in which these men lay were 
flooded witli water. Those able to do so had 
secured rails, upon which their helpless com- 
rades were placed to keep them out of the water. 
I think the division that day captured, including 
the wounded, about four thousand. General 
Gregg sent back a report of the condition of 
these poor Confederate wounded whom Lee had 
been obliged to leave behind, and asked that 
ambulances be sent out to take them in where 
they could have the attention of our surgeons, 
then overworked and exhausted caring for the 
thousands of wounded among our own men. 

From Chambersburg we marched back to 
Gettysburg and thence to Boonesborough, arriv- 
ing there about the ninth. In the neighborhood 
of Boonesborough we met the Seventh New York 
militia, whose fine band of about sixty pieces, 
led by Graffula, that night serenaded General 
Meade. The square in front of his headquarters 
was thronged with men listening to the fine 
music, the like of which we never heard in the 
army.. One man, I think from Indiana, re- 
marked to me : ^' I tell ye the bullet hain't 
run that will kill a fellow when that band 's 
a-playin'." 



CHAPTER XI 

WITHIN a few days General Gregg was di- 
rected to cross tlie Potomac at Harper's 
Ferry and move out to the vicinity of the road 
leading from Martinsburg to Winchester, which 
was General Lee's line of communications, to 
do wliat was possible to cripple his wagon trains. 
We moved through Charlestown and the next 
day reached Shepherdstown, where the Confed- 
erates had large stores of provisions. The 
people there were divided in sentiment, some 
sympathizing' with the South, and a few with 
the Union army. With a view of rewarding the 
Union sympathizers, some of us took flour and 
bacon from the Confederate stores and presented 
it to the families that we believed to be in sym- 
pathy with the Union, to the disgust of those who 
favored the South. This proved to be an un- 
fortunate performance on our part for the recipi- 
ents of our favors. While this was going on 
the enemy attacked and drove in our pickets and 
advanced in force. Fortunately the First Maine 
cavalry was mounted and on the road, going 
out for forage. Colonel Smith, their com- 
mander, at once deployed his regiment and 
checked the rai)id advance of the enemy until 

58 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 59 

General Gregg could get out the rest of the 
command and occupy a good position. 

That morning some prisoners were brought in 
and as they were taking a squad to the rear I 
asked one of the men what regiment he belonged 
to. Upon his reply that it was the Twenty-eighth 
Louisiana and that it was from New Orleans, I 
asked him if lie knew any one by the name of 
Sykes. He inquired if he was one of the auction- 
eer's sons. On telling him he was, he replied 
that they had two in his regiment and that one 
of them had been wounded and left back at some 
place, which I do not now recall. This Sykes 
was a second cousin of mine. On writing home 
I reported the circumstance to my mother, whose 
brother, my uncle, shortly after visited New 
Orleans and was thus able to give information 
to Sykes's mother in New Orleans regarding her 
son, she up to that time having had no word 
as to his whereabouts or condition. He sub- 
sequently recovered. 

About this time General Gregg received word 
that Lee's army had entirely recrossed the 
Potomac, so it was too late to accomplish any- 
thing with two brigades. He also found that 
they were moving around to surround us, as 
several couriers were captured on the way from 
Harper's Ferry, tlie main roads leading there 
then being occupied by the enemy. General 
Gregg, as usual under such conditions, made 
a splendid fight, the enemy making repeated 



60 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 

efforts to drive us, but were every time rei3ulsed 
by Irwin Gregg's brigade and the fire of our 
battery. They kept up their attacks until dark. 
That night the wounded who could be moved 
were started back for Harper's Ferry by a road 
close to the river's edge, the only one not occu- 
pied by the enemy, the General and his staff 
leaving some time after midnight, and our rear- 
guard about daylight. Within due time we 
reached Harper's Ferry with no losses other 
than the killed and those so badly wounded that 
we were unable to move them. These were left 
in a church with a surgeon and the ladies of 
Shepherdstown, who were zealous in their efforts 
to assist in alleviating the suffering of our men. 
During August and September, the division 
was kept busy watching the movements of the 
enemy. Several skirmishes and engagements 
occurred. The most notable that I recall was 
one during the advance from Sulphur Springs 
to Culpeper and thence to the Rapidan, which 
I think was in September. Kilpatrick's division 
came by way of Brandy Station while we moved 
from Sulphur Springs, the two divisions meet- 
ing about midday at Culpeper. After stopping 
to feed, the advance was resumed when, just 
beyond that town, the enemy made a sharp 
counter attack, but we finally, when our reserves 
were brought up, drove them back. Later in the 
day we went into camp in an abandoned corn- 
field, when it began to rain and we remained 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 61 

there in the rain for I think forty-eight hours. 
Indeed, my clothing had been wet through for 
probably sixty hours, because on the morning of 
the advance before we arrived at Culpeper we 
reached a bridge which the enemy had set fire 
to, thus temporarily checking our advance. As 
the General rode up some of our men were 
pulling off tlie plank. I noticed that this would 
not save the bridge, since the combustible ma- 
terial was suspended from below. Riding into the 
stream and under the bridge I began pulling 
down the burning material thus suspended, 
others following and helping me, and within a 
few minutes we had the fire out, the planks 
restored, and, with our mounted men fording the 
stream, we were able to take our artillery across, 
when the enemy fell back. As we were liable 
at any moment to meet with a counter charge, I 
was afraid to take time to get off my horse and 
take my long cavalry boots off to pour the water 
out of them, consequently I rode with about half 
a pail of water in each boot-leg for a good part 
of the day. This fact and the rain coming on 
later was the reason why my clothing was wet 
for the period mentioned. No ill results, how- 
ever, followed this, for when the sun finally- came 
out my clothes were soon dry. 



CHAPTER XII 

THE following September General Kilpatrick, 
having become commander of a division in 
July previous, applied to have me ordered to 
my regiment in his division in order that 
I might be detailed for duty at his head- 
quarters. General Gregg wrote a letter to 
General Pleasanton, the corps commander, re- 
questing a " suspension of the order," because 
of the absence, by reason of illness, of his 
adjutant-general, Captain Weir, in which he 
stated substantially that he had no staff-officers 
familiar with the adjutant-generars duties and 
that my services were then '^ invaluable to him." ^ 
The order was thereupon suspended until Cap- 
tain Weir's return, when I reported to General 
Kilpatrick. About this time. Captain Weir 
recommended me for a commission, which rec- 
ommendation was endorsed by General Gregg. ^ 
I was very sorry to leave General Gregg's head- 
quarters, for I had come to have great admiration 
for him and Captain Weir, both as soldiers and 
high-toned, patriotic men. 

At General Kilpatrick's headquarters I per- 

1 See Appendix B. 

62 




BREVET BRIGADIER GENERAL E. W. WHITAKER 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 63 

formed tlie same duties as at General Gregg's, 
acting largely in the cax)acity of private secretary 
to liim when in camp, and doing a staff-officer's 
duty in the field, until tlie following February. 
I was present with him at all the engagements 
the division took part in during that period ; the 
most important of which that I recall was on 
the retreat from Culpeper, and later at Buck- 
land's Mills near AVarrenton, about October 
20th. The former was on the occasion of the 
retirement from Culpeper and Brandy Station. 
After leaving Culpeper General Custer's bri- 
gade had the advance and General H. E. Davies, 
Jr., was covering the rear. General Pleasanton, 
the corps commander, and his staff and escort 
happened to be riding near General Kilpatrick 
and his staff, and Custer with three regiments 
was, I think, in column of squadrons moving 
on the open plain between Culpeper and Brandy 
Station and to the left of the railroad. The 
wagons of the two brigades were in the advance, 
as we were retiring. It was a bright October 
afternoon and one could see for a considerable 
distance ahead. A stream called Mountain Run 
had to be crossed and we noticed confusion at 
it, though it was probably a mile ahead. Pres- 
ently some one appeared and reported that the 
enemy were in position directly across our line 
of march on the opposite side of the run. To 
their left they had a battery which had the range 
of the little bridge over which our entire column 



64 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 

must pass to cross Mountain Run. It thus 
seemed that we were likely to be cut off and 
the only alternative was to charge right through 
this force directly in our front. Kilpatrick gave 
orders to Custer to charge with his entire com- 
mand and we then advanced in practically five 
columns. This was a fine sight and a thrilling 
moment. Pleasanton's staff and escort, Kil- 
patrick's staff and escort, and Custer's three or 
four regiments. When we arrived within a rea- 
sonable charging distance of the enemy posted 
as I have described, Custer ordered his band to 
strike up Yankee Doodle; the men on hearing 
this began cheering when the bugle sounded the 
charge. The five columns rushed forward and 
the enemy broke before we reached them, moving 
into the woods on their left and our right, across 
the railroad. I remember one gallant Confed- 
erate riding out in an effort to rally their men, 
standing in plain sight with his battle-fiag stuck 
in tlie ground, holding it off from his horse at 
arm's length, but it was of no use, and he finally 
was obliged to retire. 

Meanwhile the enemy appeared on our left and 
rear, and part of our force had to turn and meet 
them, Davies, who was covering our rear, being 
also strongly pressed as he was retiring from 
Culpeper. Repeated charges were made and the 
enemy held back until our wagons, ambulances, 
and artillery were gotten over the little bridge 
previously referred to at Mountain Run. Ulti- 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 65 

mately the entire command crossed at tliis point. 
The enemy had such an accurate range of this 
crossing-place that they dropped their shells on 
and in the immediate vicinity of the bridge dur- 
ing the crossing of our men. Just as I passed 
it, the man who was riding ahead of me, Avhose 
horse mine could touch, had his head taken off 
by a shell just as though it had been severed by 
an axe; the remarkable fact was that his head- 
less body remained straight in the saddle for 
an instant or two, finally toppling over. When 
we reached Brandy Station we made a junction 
with Buford's command, which we found had 
been coming up in rear of the line that was 
drawn up to cut us off. This doubtless had 
something to do with their breaking before we 
reached them in tlie charge I have described. 
We then crossed the Rappahannock and camped 
for the night. This was the third engagement 
that I had been in at Brandy Station. 

On October 19th occurred the engagement at 
Buckland's Mills, near Warrenton. In this Kil- 
patrick's command was defeated. In the ad- 
vance toward Warrenton there was an interval 
of about two miles between General Davies's 
brigade, which had the advance, and General 
Custer's. We had been driving the enemy dur- 
ing the morning toward Warrenton, and had 
halted to feed when a force of the enemy came 
unexpectedly in between Custer's and Davies's 
brigades, overwhelmed General Custer's com- 

5 



66 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 

manci, and drove it back across Broad Run; and 
by taking possession of the bridge and the War- 
renton pike, had cut off General Davies's com- 
mand, which was then vigorously attacked by 
Hampton's force, which Davies had been pushing 
toward Warrenton up to tliis time. 

Kilpatrick, when he found Custer was thus 
attacked, had sent one or two staif-officers to 
Davies with orders for him to fall back and 
make a junction with Custer. These apparently 
were unable to reach him, and Kilpatrick, when 
he found that Custer could not hold his position, 
became very anxious that word should be gotten 
to Davies of the real situation and the danger 
that his brigade might be cut off and a large 
portion of them captured. As he crossed the 
bridge with the rear of Custer's command he 
turned to me, as I was riding near him, no 
staff-officer being at the moment about, and re- 
marked : ^^ Meyer, somebody must get to Davies 
and let him know that Custer has been driven 
across Broad Run and that the enemy have got 
this bridge." On turning my horse to go back, 
he called out : '' Tell him to make his way the 
best he can to Haymarket where he will find 
General Newton's corps." 

I was unable to return across the bridge, as 
the enemy had the other end of it and were 
moving up the stream so as to intercept Davies, 
whom they knew was being driven back on them. 
Riding until beyond their line I saw some of 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 67 

Custer's men, who liad been cut off, come out 
of the woods at that point and cross the stream 
to escape, when I took advantage of the con- 
fusion to cross to the west side, trusting I would 
not be noticed and tliat the woods at that point 
would screen me from observation. Being fa- 
miliar with the country I made my way around 
their flank and rear, having the sound of Davies's 
firing to direct me to his whereabouts. I soon 
reached him and found him hard pressed. When 
I reported the situation, his men were rallied 
for another charge, which was led by Captain 
J. F. B. Mitchell, so as to gain time to permit 
a withdrawal, as directed. We then galloped 
across the country, the forces opposing follow- 
ing on our flanks, until we crossed Broad Run 
farther up tow^ards Haymarket. Davies's artil- 
lery had meanwhile been conducted away in 
safety under the guidance of Doctor Capehart, 
of the First West Virginia cavalry, w^ho knew^ 
the country well. The brigade was thus saved 
from serious loss; indeed, none other than the 
casualties in fighting. Custer's and Davies's bri- 
gades formed a junction when they reached the 
First Corps commanded by General Newton, and 
the enemy withdrew. 

General Kilpatrick was quite chagrined that 
evening over the surprise his command had been 
subjected to and the defeat it met, and claimed 
that he never would have separated Davies's and 
Custer's brigades and given the enemy a chance 



68 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 

to get m between them by means of the road from 
Auburn tlirough the woods, had he not supposed 
that this road was being looked after bj some 
one else, whose name I do not now recall. 

Custer's command, which was feeding when 
attacked, made a gallant fight under verj great 
disadvantages. The remarkably accurate firing 
by Pennington's battery, however, cliecked the 
enemy's advance and Custer's personal efforts 
saved his brigade from much greater losses. 
Stuart, the Confederate commander, in his re- 
port, claimed that it was '' the greatest rout that 
any cavalry had suffered during the war," and 
the Richmond papers described the fight as the 
" Buckland Races." This I think is an exagger- 
ated statement. Of course we were defeated, but 
as soon as Custer got across the stream his 
men were rallied and as fit to take the offensive 
as they were in the morning. Davies's brigade 
fought gallantly to resist Hampton's assaults, 
which began as soon as the firing on Custer in 
the rear was heard. It was only after I gave 
Davies the information that Custer had been 
driven across Broad Run and that the enemy 
had the bridge and were in his rear, moving 
towards Haymarket to intercept him, that he 
started his command on the gallop across the 
country to that village. When he had made a 
junction with Custer, both brigades were ready 
to take the offensive; at any rate the enemy 
withdrew. 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 69 

An amusing incident that occurred after Cus- 
ter's men had gotten OA^er Broad Run and were 
being rallied was told me, to the effect that an 
Irishman rode up to Kilpatrick, who was rid- 
ing his horse called '^ Spot," a speckled roan 
with a white rump, saying : " I say, ^ Kil,' stop 
here, and the boys will see your horse and they 
will rally round you, so they will." This the 
General did, resulting as the Irishman had 
predicted. 

In December General Custer was temporarily 
in command of the division, and on his recom- 
mendation I was allowed a furlough of ten days. 
During that ten days I dined one evening with 
Admiral Hiram Paulding, then in command of 
the Brooklyn Navy Yard. (His son had been 
a schoolmate and the Admiral had known me 
before the war.) He questioned me as to my 
position in the field, and expressed considerable 
surprise when I told him I was not a commis- 
sioned 'officer, and quite embarrassed me, as there 
were a number of prominent officers at the table, 
by slapping me on the back and in a loud voice, 
to attract tlie attention of all present, stating 
that he was j)roud to sit alongside of a private 
soldier of the United States Army, and a gen- 
tleman. He then asked me to call upon him 
the next morning, wlien he gave me a letter ad- 
dressed to the Hon. John Potts, the chief clerk 
of the War Department and an old friend of 
his, which recommended me for a commission. 



70 CIVIL WAE EXPERIENCES 

I never presented this letter/ however. He sub- 
sequently wrote letters ^ to Governor Seymour, 
and Adjutant-General D. Town send, U. S. A., 
copies of which he gave me, and to General 
Kilpatrick. General Kilpatrick later gave me 
a copy of the one he received.^ 

About this time, General Kilpatrick, hearing 
that my friends at home had interested them- 
selves in the matter of procuring me a commis- 
sion, wrote a letter to the Hon. George T. Cobb, 
an influential member of Congress from New 
Jersey, a coj)y of which Captain L. G. Estes, his 
adjutant-general, gave me.^ In February an 
order from the War Department discharging me 
as a private from the Harris Light Cavalry to 
accept a commission in the Twenty-fourth New 
York cavalry was received at General Kilpat- 
rick's headquarters at Stevensburg. I did not 
care to leave the General and went to him for 
advice; yet the idea of going home on a furlough 
with promotion was quite attractive, and the 
General told me that he thought, on the whole, 
promotion in a new regiment was more apt to 
be rapid since there would be a good many 
changes during the first campaign, and, "■ in any 
event," he remarked, '' if your regiment comes 
anywhere near where I am I will have you de- 
tailed on my staff.'' Thanking the General and 
bidding him and my friends good-bye, I left his 
headquarters for my new field of duty. 

^ See Appendix B. 



CHAPTER XIII 

IEETURNED to New York, procured my 
uniform, and immediately reported at Au- 
burn, where the Twenty-fourth cavalry was ren- 
dezvoused. To my surprise, I found that they 
were under orders to proceed at once to Wash- 
ington. When I reported to Colonel Raulston, 
commanding, he told me that he proi^osed to 
assign me to Company D, as this company had 
no captain, and he did not think the first lieu- 
tenant, who had recruited most of the men, was 
likely to remain long in the service and was 
unable to enforce the necessary discipline. 
Though I was a second lieutenant, he expected 
to hold me responsible for the safe conduct of 
the men to Washington and the drilling and 
care of the company. It seems that the first 
lieutenant, who was a well-meaning man, was 
not suited for military life; he did not realize 
what was required and expected of him, was in- 
capable of securing the confidence of the men, 
and totally ignorant of the duties of a company 
commander; and consequently with his concur- 
rence and witli perfect good feeling between us, 
I took charge of the company, drilled them, and 
had practically charge of them until comi)elled 

71 



72 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 

to leave them by reason of Avoiinds, as will be 
explained later. 

The regiment left Auburn for Washington via 
Elmira and Baltimore. It rode in passenger- 
cars from Auburn to Elmira, and at Elmira, not- 
withstanding the season of the year, February, 
the regiment was placed in freight-cars and was 
thus transported to Baltimore. As the men had 
received large bounties I was, I assume, in com- 
mon with the other company commanders, told 
that I would be held responsible should any of 
my men desert while en route to Washington. 
The train made frequent stops and w^as held at 
stations to allow other traffic to pass, and I 
think we were something like forty-eight hours 
en route. It seemed to me hard to keep the 
men cramped up in these cars in which they 
simply had planks to sit on, so I told them that 
at each station we stopped at I would allow a 
certain number to get out and take a little ex- 
ercise, but that in accepting this privilege if 
any of them took advantage of it to desert I 
would have to suffer for it, yet I would take 
the chances that they would be fair to me. Tliis 
they were, since none of them deserted. 

Before reaching Baltimore an amusing inci- 
dent occurred that illustrates a volunteer sol- 
dier's idea of discipline on joining the army. 
At one of the stopping-places where my men 
were out walking on the platform, Lieutenant- 
Colonel Newberry remarked that he noticed my 




COLONEL WILLIAM C. RAULSTON 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 73 

men out at every station, intimating that I was 
not holding them well in hand. I replied that 
I thought it a hardship not to let them take some 
exercise, the weather being cold, but that if he 
directed me not to allow them to leave the cars 
I would carry out his instructions. At this he 
turned and made no reply. A couple of Irish- 
men of my company overheard the conversation, 
one of whom exclaimed : " I say, Lieutenant, if 
you say the word we will belt hell out of him, 
so we will ! " Ordering the men to get in the car, 
I had great difficulty to refrain from laughing. 
If the Colonel heard the remark he doubtless 
was amused at it; at any rate he ignored it. 
He had a keen sense of the ludicrous, and no 
officer could be more considerate of his men than 
he subsequently proved to be. When the train 
conveying the regiment reached Baltimore, the 
sides of many of the cars had been stripped of 
their covering, which had been used to make fires 
en route. We finally reached the old Baltimore 
and Ohio station in Washington at night, it being 
very cold. From there we marched to Camp 
Stoneman, a cavalry camp of instruction across 
Potomac Creek, where the regiment was drilled 
and put in shape for the campaign that began 
in May. 

Having had experience in a cavalry regiment 
and being familiar with cavalry tactics, and also 
with the various details of camp duties, I was 
able to suggest how my inexperienced men could 



74 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 

be comfortable in camp, as soon as we reached 
Camp Stoneman. The regiment was, in May, 
assigned to Burnside's Ninth Corps, and joined 
the Army of the Potomac, after a hard day's 
march, the afternoon of the second day of the 
battle of the Wilderness. As soon as our regi- 
ment advanced into the woods, I was selected 
to take command of a skirmish line that was 
to cover, as I remember, the front of our bri- 
gade. I assumed that I w^as selected for this 
duty, though only a second lieutenant in rank, 
because of the fact of my prior service with the 
Harris Light Cavalry and with Generals Gregg 
and Kilpatrick. Nothing serious occurred, how- 
ever, to my command that day. 

On the evening of the last day of the battle 
of the Wilderness we built a new line of breast- 
works, which were in close proximity to the 
enemy's lines. With a view^ to sparing my men, 
who were then much exhausted, I had the works 
in my front built by stragglers from other regi- 
ments, of whom there were a large number, re- 
leasing them when the work was finished. At 
dark, in order to prevent a surprise, as it was 
extremely difficult to keep the men awake, we 
placed a line of pickets about fifty yards out- 
side of our works. A short time after, some one 
on our line fired a shot, when immediately the 
w^hole line arose and began shooting. Believing 
that it was a false alarm, I jumped up to look 
over the breastworks to see if I could see any 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 75 

firing from the enemy's lines. At that moment 
I heard our picl^ets outside, who were subjected 
to this fire, calling out, '^ For God's sake stop 
firing, you are killing your own men ! " Running 
along the line giving orders to stop the firing, 
I had a narrow escape from one excited fellow 
who fired his carbine off, the muzzle of wliich 
was close to my ear as I was in the act of grab- 
bing another man who, in his excitement, was 
about to shoot. The line, however, soon quieted 
down. 

Presently a messenger came to me and speak- 
ing in a low tone directed me to keep a sharp 
lookout and when I saw the troops on my right 
move, to have my men follow as noiselessly^ as 
l)0ssible, and he enjoined me to see that the men 
carried their canteens and tin cups in their hands 
in order that no noise might he heard by the 
enemy whose lines were so close by. I was soon 
notified, " They are moving.'' Quickly walking 
along the line I awoke the men and cautioned 
them to be as quiet as possible. In this manner 
we moved out and for some moments were in sus- 
pense lest the enemy hear the movement and, by 
attacking, stop it. After a while we reached a 
place where we could form in column of fours, 
and all that night we marched through narrow 
roads in the woods of that region, halting every 
few minutes because of obstructions due to teams 
and otlier troops in our front. This fatiguing 
I)rocess continued until about daylight, when we 



76 CIVIL WAE EXPERIENCES 

readied the main road where the country was 
open. We were all greatly depressed, since after 
the three days' desperate fighting at the Wilder- 
ness no apparent advantage had been gained, 
and we assumed that the army had been unsuc- 
cessful and that it was an attempt to retreat. 
We soon came to a house outside of which I 
saw a colored woman apparently dressed up, 
since it was Sunday. I called out to her and 
asked what road we were marching on. Upon 
hearing her reply, ^^ The road to Spottsylvania 
Court House,'' a thrill of satisfaction instantly 
passed through every man in the column, since 
then we realized that we at last had a general 
and that our movement was south and towards 
the rear of Lee's army. From that time until 
the end of my service I never had any mis- 
giving as to Grant's capacity to lead us to final 
victory. 

It was on this morning that I first saw General 
Grant. The road ahead was blocked and our 
men were lying in it when some one called out, 
" Get your men to one side to allow General 
Grant to pass." Grant, however, gave direc- 
tions not to disturb the tired men, many of whom 
were asleep, and turned into a field. We were 
all up, however, anxious to see him. He ap- 
peared riding a small black horse with his feet 
not more than two feet from the ground. He 
had a couple of staff-olficers with him, one of 
whom was Captain Parker, an Indian, and an 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 77 

orderly. His unpretentious appearance excited 
the comment of all, and had we not been told 
who he was he would have attracted no more 
attention than an ordinary line officer. 



CHAPTEK XIV 

A LITTLE after noon the regiment reached 
a position in the vicinity of Spottsylva- 
nia, where details of men were given me and I 
was instructed to go into the woods and estab- 
lish a line of skirmishers in a favorable location. 
We found the underbrush in these woods on fire, 
so using a portion of the men to beat out the 
fire I placed the remainder on a line which we 
occupied until the next day, when we were moved 
to another part of the field. It was so difficult 
to keep my men awake that, in order to avoid 
a surprise, I went along the line at frequent in- 
tervals during the night, sometimes being obliged 
to wake up some of them. 

While in front of Spottsylvania Court House 
I was in command of a force that held the line 
of works on the road to that town. We were 
under fire most of the day until, towards even- 
ing, the enemy retired. With the desire to 
have my men get a little refreshment, I sug- 
gested that some part of the men cook coffee 
while the others remained in the trenches in 
line. There being no firewood I suggested that 
some rails be pulled out of a breastwork that 
ran at right angles to one that we had been 

78 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 79 

occupying. On lifting these rails a man re- 
ported that he saw the body of a Confederate 
soldier in the breastworks. I then had a con- 
siderable portion of the breastworks uncovered, 
and found that they had placed in them a num- 
ber of dead Confederates and piled rails and 
dirt on top of them, thus forming the breast- 
work behind which they had fought. Reporting 
this on being relieved, I saw it afterward com- 
mented on in some of the Northern papers. 

It will be remembered that the battle of Spott- 
sylvania was a very sanguinary one, the enemy 
being strongly posted behind breastworks in a 
rough- wooded country, and the assaults made on 
these works had cost our army a loss of nearly 
twenty thousand men, killed and wounded. A 
night or two before the army moved from there, 
I was called from my place in the line of breast- 
works and directed to report at division head- 
quarters. On arriving there I was introduced 
to an officer who, I was told, was a topographical 
engineer from army headquarters, and that I 
was to go with him. It was a dark night with 
a drizzling rain falling. As we mounted our 
horses he told me that I was selected to conduct 
a division later in the night to a position from 
which they were to assault the enemy's works, 
the attack to be made before daylight, hoping 
to surprise them, previous assaults in the day- 
time having proved so disastrous to our men. 
He stated that he wanted to have me familiarize 



80 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 

myself thoroughly with the ground where the 
division was to be placed in position for the 
charge so that I could explain it to the general 
in command, and tlius avoid a chance of con- 
fusion among the troops and failure of the 
attack. 

On liearing what was expected of me I was 
naturally greatly impressed with the responsi- 
bility, fearing that if I made a mistake it might 
be very disastrous in its results. We soon 
reached a small corduroy bridge, about wide 
enough for a column of fours to cross, from 
which a roadway passed through a piece of 
woods, as I remember it, a few rods, to a clear- 
ing. We left our horses with our orderlies at 
this bridge and walked till we came to the clear- 
ing. He told me that a few rods in front the 
ground began to ascend, and farther up on this 
slope was the line of works the division was to 
attack and attempt to surprise. He then walked 
with me along the clearing to the right, explain- 
ing about how many yards it extended in that 
direction from the opening by which we had 
entered, and told me about how many could 
be placed in line there. We then returned to 
the opening and walked to the left of it, where 
he explained about how many men could be 
placed there. On our return to this road, I 
suggested that we had better move up the hill 
a little more so that I could familiarize myself 
with the character of the ground over which the 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 81 

assault was to be made. This was done and 
we lay on the ground where we could hear 
sounds from the enemy's lines. We then re- 
turned to our horses. In my anxiety not to 
make a mistake, I suggested that we go all over 
it again and that he let me show him the way 
in the manner I was expected to direct the 
general, to make sure that I correctly understood 
what I was to do. He assented to this, and 
at its conclusion expressed himself as satisfied 
that I understood the duty assigned to me. On 
the ride back to headquarters I think nothing 
was said. I was naturally thinking over what 
would be the result of this night attack and 
wondering whether I would ever see daylight 
again. Reaching headquarters, this of&cer, 
whose name I never learned and whose face I 
could not even recall, as it was dark the entire 
time I was with him, told me I had better lie 
down and get a little sleep and that I would 
be called when wanted. Then taking me by the 
hand he said, " Good-bye and God bless you ! " 
and withdrew. 

When I awoke the sun was up, and upon in- 
quiry I Avas informed that about two o'clock in 
the morning a message was received from head- 
quarters countermanding the order for the as- 
sault. After the war, I read in some of General 
Grant's writings that after assenting to this 
proposed assault he was awake in his tent think- 
ing over the prospects of its success and decided 

6 



82 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 

that the chances in the darkness were against 
it. Therefore, soon after midnight, he directed 
that the order for it be countermanded. I 
assume that the contemplated assault was to 
include other troops than the division I was 
detailed to accompany. 

One night, while with my company in the 
breastworks, I was sent for and informed by 
Colonel Raulston that General Burnside had re- 
quested him to recommend an officer whom he 
could send to Washington to bring back with 
him, at the earliest possible moment, some car- 
bine ammunition for our regiment, it being of a 
different calibre from that used by the other 
regiments of the division, which were infantry. 
Colonel Raulston told me he had decided to 
detail me for this duty and directed me to re- 
port to General Burnside. I rode to the latter's 
headquarters, where he gave me a letter to the 
War Department and one addressed to his wife. 
The latter he requested me to mail in Washing- 
ton, mail communication with the army at that 
time having been temporarily cut off. 

I started immediately in a dense fog for Belle 
Plain, riding all night, and was obliged to pro- 
cure a fresh horse in the morning at Fredericks- 
burg. I sailed from Belle Plain for Washington, 
arriving the next morning, and as soon as the 
War Department opened for business I pre- 
sented my letters, and was informed that the 
necessary ammunition would be placed on a tug 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 83 

wliich would be ready to sail for Belle Plain 
that afternoon. 

I was told that a permit had been given to 
the late Bishop Mellvaine, of Ohio, and George 
H. Stuart, the president of the Christian Com- 
mission, to go on the boat with me, they having 
been granted permission to go to the front to 
look into the practical working of the United 
States Christian Commission. When the tug 
sailed, I being the only United States officer or 
soldier on board, Mr. Stuart introduced himself 
to me, and then presented me to the Bishop. 
Later he came to me and said that it was pro- 
posed to have a brief prayer-meeting in the 
cabin, at which were present the Bishop, Mr. 
Stuart, and one or two representatives of the 
Christian Commission, and a lady, who, I was 
told, had a pass from Mr. Lincoln permitting 
her to go to the front to see her son, who was 
w^ounded. It impressed me as an exceedingly 
pathetic and remarkable incident, and I re- 
member that, being brought up a Presbyterian, 
I was a little curious to see whether the Bishop 
would read his prayers from the prayer-book or 
would make one extemporaneously. He, how- 
ever, made what seemed to me then one of the 
most affecting and beautiful extempore prayers 
I ever listened to. When the little steamboat 
reached Belle Plain, the Bishop's party were 
put into an ambulance and had an escort of a 
part of a regiment to take them to Fredericks- 



84 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 

burg, as the intervening country was raided by 
Mosby's men and all wagon trains between 
Belle Plain and Fredericksburg had to be heavily 
guarded. 

No transportation being provided for me to 
take my ammunition to the front, I took the 
responsibility of taking some wagons belonging 
to General Potter's division, none of my own 
being available. I did this without authority, 
but under stress of circumstances. When I got 
them loaded I found it was impossible to start 
that afternoon, as no escort could be furnished 
until the next morning. I concluded, however, 
the General would be anxious to know that the 
ammunition was en route, and I decided to start 
on alone for Fredericksburg. Putting my pistol 
in my boot-leg, I started off in a very severe 
thunder-storm, and, keeping a good lookout, 
rode to Fredericksburg without meeting any of 
the enemy's roving cavalry. 

That night I spent with Captain Corson, 
quartermaster of General Gregg's division at 
Fredericksburg, and started the next morning 
for the front, where I reported to General 
Crittenden wlien he might expect the first 
wagons containing the ammunition, and then 
rode back to Fredericksburg to hurry them for- 
ward. When I returned with the first two 
wagons the regiment was in action, and I was 
obliged to get details of men to break open the 
boxes and carrv the cartridc^es in blankets to 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 85 

supply the men along the line. I remember be- 
ing verbally complimented for getting back some 
twelve hours sooner than it was thought pos- 
sible, and shortly afterwards General Crittenden 
detailed me on his staff, but I declined the posi- 
tion, as my men expected me to stay with them 
and I had intimated that I would stay with them 
througJi the campaign. It was a few days after 
this that I was commissioned captain. 

I might add that I understood General Potter 
was very angry, as he needed his wagons to bring 
commissary stores for his troops, and proposed 
to prefer charges against me for unwarrantably 
taking them. If he did so, I never heard any- 
thing from it. I took for granted that the 
necessities of the case justified my action. 



CHAPTER XV 

FROM Spottsjlvania, uutil the army reached 
Petersburg, some portion of the regiment 
was under fire every day. During this period 
occurred the engagements at the North Anna 
River, Pamunkey, and Cold Harbor. The most 
fatiguing march that I ever experienced was 
that made by our brigade on its withdrawal from 
the south bank of the Isorth x\nna River, in 
which we had a similar experience to that dur- 
ing the withdrawal from the lines at the Wilder- 
ness, the men realizing that if we were attacked 
then it would be on the brink of a rapid running 
river we were about to recross. We crossed the 
North Anna River sometime between darkness 
and midnight, and then moved by a circuitous 
route, as the more direct lines were occupied 
by other troops. We marched, without any halts 
other than those occasioned by blockades ahead 
of us, all the next day and following night. In 
order to prevent my tired men from falling out, 
and not having the heart to urge them to keep 
up while I was riding my horse, I dismounted 
and walked at the rear of the company, feeling 
that so long as I was able to walk I could with 
propriety urge the men to do likewise. It was 

86 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 87 

reported at tlie time that some of our men died 
of exhaustion in the middle of the night; at 
any rate, when the command finally halted and 
stacked arms fully one half of it were not able 
to answer the roll-call. During the following 
twenty-four hours, however, our stragglers kept 
coming in. 

In a day or two the battle of Cold Harbor 
occurred. Our regiment went into line in an 
unfavorable position, it being in an abandoned 
cornfield, the woods beyond being held by the 
enemy. As was the custom whenever we went 
into line at night to throw up temporary breast- 
works, we were directed to do so here. The soil 
was sandy, there were no timber and no rail 
fences, and we had few intrenching tools, con- 
sequently it seemed impossible with the facilities 
at hand to construct any sort of temporary 
breastworks. Within a few rods of my com- 
pany's position in the lines stood a large house, 
from which the family had hastily departed. 
As there was no timber, the only alternative 
that suggested itself to me was to take the roof 
from the house and break it up for our purpose. 
I therefore sent a detail of men who in a short 
time removed the roof from this building, while 
others soon knocked down the rest of the struc- 
ture. This material was broken up, the sand 
piled on it, and thus were provided the breast- 
works that protected us the next day. This 
seemed a hardship to the occupants of this 



88 CIA^L WAE EXPERIENCES 

dwelling, but it was justified by the circum- 
stances. 

During the battle of Cold Harbor I had a 
second opportunity to see General Grant, hav- 
ing been sent to General Meade's headquarters 
where General Grant haiDpened to be. When I 
reached headquarters, I found General Meade 
sprawled out on the ground with his face buried 
in a map, he being very near-sighted. Staff- 
officers were constantly riding up and reporting, 
and about fifty feet from where he lay I saw 
General Grant sitting alone on a stretcher. He 
had nothing to say to any one and seemed un- 
concerned. While waiting for my instructions, 
I intently watched him. Presently an officer 
brought up a Confederate officer, who was a 
prisoner. Looking up. General Grant quietly 
asked, " I assume you have questioned him? " 
The officer replied, " Yes, but he does not tell 
anything.'' Grant then remarked, " Ask him if 
he has a recent Richmond paper." The Con- 
federate officer said that he had and took one 
from his haversack, giving it to the officer, who 
handed it to General Grant. Grant nodded his 
head in acknowledgment, and remarking, " You 
may take him back," opened the paper and 
began to read. Just then General Sheridan 
rode up. Grant arose, greeted him warmly, 
and seemed deeply interested as Sheridan 
began earnestly telling him, I assume, the 
results of his recent movements. Receiving 



CIVIL AVAR EXPERIENCES 89 

my instructions I then returned to the regi- 
ment. 

The crossing of the James River by the army 
on pontoon bridges, as is known, was a mem- 
orable movement, the river being about two 
thousand feet wide there. Our march from the 
James River to Petersburg was a very hard one, 
since the roads were sandy and it seemed that at 
every two steps forward we would slip one back- 
ward. However, towards evening, we reached a 
position near Petersburg, when, tired as we were, 
it seemed to me a favorable moment for us to 
advance and try to capture the town. We could 
see trains of cars coming in, their infantry be- 
ing hastily unloaded, and everywhere were evi- 
dences that they were hurrying up forces to 
resist us. The failure to attack that afternoon 
was a great disappointment to General Grant, 
as one reading his Memoirs can ascertain. The 
next day, the 17th of June, was my last day of 
active service in the field. 

About the 8th or 9th of June orders had been 
read out behind the breastworks in which my 
appointment as captain was announced. Though 
I had always been doing duty as a captain, I had 
never held the rank of a first-lieutenant. Sub- 
sequently, Adjutant Hill having been w^ounded, 
I did temporary duty as adjutant; and on the 
17th of June was with the regiment in the as- 
sault of the enemy's works near the Norfolk 
road, in which it suffered so severely. My 



90 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 

wound was not received in tlie assault but im- 
mediately after, and under the following cir- 
cumstances. The assault liad been unsuccessful 
because of the failure of some troops on our 
right to support us i)roperly, and the command 
had secured the protection of a line of breast- 
works. Acting as adjutant that day I had been 
carrying an order, when I noticed lying on the 
field Lieutenant Randall, who was lying on his 
face, and about him were our killed and 
wounded, among others, General Morton, Gen- 
eral Burnside's chief engineer. I turned back 
to see if Randall was alive, and found him lying 
with his face buried in the dirt of a corn-hill, 
the field being a succession of ridges, and the 
corn being about eighteen inches high. He had 
a hole in his neck and was apparently dying. 
I brushed the dirt out of his face so that he 
could breathe, propped him up on the dirt ridges, 
but was unable to carry him into our lines, be- 
cause I had been suffering for some days from 
intermittent fever and was almost too weak to 
walk when I went into the engagement. While 
thus stooping over and in the act of starting for 
our lines, a ball struck me alongside of the spine, 
just above my sabre belt, and, as afterwards 
turned out, ploughed up in the neighborhood of 
my shoulders. Realizing that I was struck in 
a bad place and not wishing to lie there in the 
sun during the afternoon, I started for our 
breastworks, the bullets striking the ground 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 91 

around me as I crawled. I asked a man who I 
believed belonged to the Eighteenth Corps if 
he could pull me over, as I was unable to get 
over. He remarked, " I will, if my partner will 
help me," and in a moment these two men 
jumped upon the breastwork, took me by the 
collar of my cavalry jacket, jerked me over, and 
dropped me inside. It had not occurred to me 
that I was in plain sight of the enemy, and it 
w^as not until after I was lifting Randall that 
I noticed the bullets were striking in the ground 
around me and subsequently in the breastworks, 
as I lay outside of them, when I asked the man 
to help me over. 

Just after I Avas pulled over. General Walter 
C. Newberry, then the lieutenant-colonel of the 
Tw^enty-fourth cavalry, who that day com- 
manded the regiment, came up to me. I showed 
him my wound and remarked that I thought I 
had a " thirty-day wound." He sent two men 
who lifted me on my feet, and, with my arm 
about their necks and their arms supporting my 
body, I walked a considerable distance before I 
could reach an ambulance, which took me to the 
field hospital. On my way to the field hospital 
I noticed a corporal, Frederick Gundlach, a 
brave and honest soldier, who was walking hold- 
ing his hand, which seemed to be shattered. I 
hailed him and he immediately ran along by the 
ambulance in which I was, stayed by me, and 
waited on me during the afternoon and night. 



92 CIVIL WAR EXPEEIENCES 

During the night I was placed in a tent with 
five other seriously wounded officers, including 
Colonel Eaulston of the Twenty-fourth and Cap- 
tain Burch, the latter dying in the arms of his 
men as he lay directly opposite me in the tent. 
During the night it was reported to us that an 
officer outside had been obliged to have his 
clothing cut off to get at his wounds, as he had 
fiA'e bullets in his body, in various places, and 
a blanket was wanted to put around him. As 
Corporal Gundlach had given me his blanket 
to lie on and my overcoat was wrapped around 
my sabre hilt and pistol, so as to make a pillow 
for me, I gave them the coat to wrap around 
this badly wounded man, who proved to be none 
other than the Lieutenant Randall that I had 
assisted when I received my wound. It was 
assumed that by brushing the dirt out of his 
face and turning him over so he could breathe, 
he regained consciousness, and when the enemy's 
position was taken in a later assault that after- 
noon, he, with the other wounded, was brought 
in. At any rate, he lived several years after 
the war, though I never met him again. ^ 

The day after I was wounded I am unable 
to account for. I may have been insensible; at 
any rate, it was the second day after, that the 
ambulances and army wagons were filled with 

1 After the war, a medal of honor was awarded to me 
on the recommendation of General Newberry; see corre- 
spondence in Appendix A. 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 93 

wounded and started for City Point, whence 
steamboats conveyed them to Washington. I 
was fortunate in being placed in an ambulance 
with another badly wounded officer, as these 
vehicles had springs, wliile many of the wounded 
had to ride in the army wagons that had none, 
hence when going down hill or over rough roads 
the jolting caused great suffering. A whole day 
was consumed in making the trip to City Point, 
delays constantly occurring because we had to 
pull out beside the road to permit supply and 
ammunition wagons to pass, it being the custom 
in war always to give the right of way to sup- 
plies for the front. The heat and the dust set- 
ling down on us made it a very trying day, and 
when the teams reached City Point a number of 
the wounded were found dead. 

We were placed on a large steamboat, where 
the cots were arranged on the decks as near 
together as they could be placed and permit 
nurses to pass between them. These were clean 
and there was an abundance of food and drink 
for those able to partake of it. We were on this 
steamboat that night and the following day, 
reaching the wharf at the foot of Sixth Street 
in Washington about sundown. By this time I 
was suffering considerably. Because of the na- 
ture of my wound I was the last man removed 
from the boat, it then being nine o'clock. It 
was decided that the best way to handle me 
was to carry me on the mattress, so a number 



91 CIVIL WAE EXPERIENCES 

of men held it oyer the stair-well, as I was on the 
upper deck, while others took it from below. 
The journey in an ambulance through the streets 
of Washington, then not paved, was a painful 
one. I finally reached the Seminary Hospital 
at Georgetown, where I was bathed and my 
soiled clothing replaced by clean linen, and 
placed in a comfortable cot which I occupied for 
nearly four months. 

There were, during that period, usually six 
wounded officers in the room at a time. Dr. 
Ducachet was the surgeon-in-chief and Dr. Finn 
the assistant surgeon ; the latter had charge of 
me. He took good care of me, and I am doubt- 
less greatly indebted to him for my recovery. 
For three weeks repeated attempts were made to 
find the ball by probing, but without success. 
One day a large swelling appeared on my back, 
and in turning me over in bed to dress the wound 
a sudden discharge occurred with great force, 
whereupon the surgeons were summoned and 
concluded that this violent discharge must have 
forced the ball from its lodgment, which had 
been beyond the reach of their longest probe, 
and it was decided to attempt to get the ball 
out. After sundown, when the day was cooler, 
the weather at that time being excessively hot, 
the operation was successfully accomx)lished. 
The ball was flattened against my ribs; two of 
them were splintered, and pieces of them occa- 
sionally worked out through the wound during 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 95 

the ensuing eight months. Because of the frac- 
ture of my ribs and the wound in my back, I 
was obliged to lie on one hip, with the result 
that I suffered from severe bedsores, and for 
weeks was able to get sleep only by taking 
morphine. 

In October of that year the surgeons decided 
that it would do to remove me to my home at 
Dobbs Ferry on the Hudson. 

During the following winter I was confined 
to my bed at intervals by abscesses forming 
preliminary to their discharging pieces of bone 
or cloth, the last particles coming out the fol- 
lowing March or April. The w^ound healed in 
June, though my body w^as bent and one leg 
contracted. Hence I was obliged to walk with 
a cane for nearly another year, although I was 
able to perform clerical work that summer. 



CHAPTER XVI 

GENERAL D. McM. GREGG was a West 
Point graduate and had seen service in 
the army before the war. He was dignified in 
manner and that winter I was more or less 
in awe of him, when in his presence. One day he 
sent for me and asked me if I knew of a certain 
special order from the War Department bear- 
ing on a certain subject. Replying, '^ I think it 
is number so and so," he said : '' You should not 
think, sir, you should know. Go and find out." 
To a layman this might seem needlessly severe, 
but it was just the kind of training the young 
volunteer soldiers needed. Indeed, my after ex- 
perience demonstrated that one could not have 
been under a more considerate and finer com- 
mander. His coolness whenever we were in 
action and his thoughtfulness in looking out for 
his men, sparing them needless risks and taking 
precautions to protect them from surprises, se- 
cured for him the absolute confidence of every 
one in his command. He was averse to news- 
paper notoriety and I do not recall an instance 
when he seemed willing to give information to 

96 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 97 

reporters. His idea was to confine wliat lie had 
to tell to his official reports, and let the records 
testify to the character of his service. Indeed, 
on one occasion he remarked to me, ^^ Meyer, I 
do not propose to have a picture reputation." 
As I am writing these lines he is still living, 
beloved by the survivors of those who served 
under him and respected by the people of Penn- 
sylvania, the State in which he lives. 

General Judson Kilpatrick, also a West Point 
graduate, was of slight build, wiry, apparently 
incapable of fatigue, and physically just the man 
for a cavalry leader. He was of a highly ex- 
citable and nervous temperament. Whenever 
we reached camp and every one else seemed to 
think that men and horses should have a rest, 
Kilx^atrick was writing letters and asking for 
authority from his superiors to start out on a 
reconnoissance or a raid, or to give him a chance 
to get into a fight. I was told that when at 
West Point he was noted for making speeches. 
With us he would frequently harangue the men, 
but his good-natured dash and personal mag- 
netism made him popular. He had capacity for 
rallying his soldiers and getting them into a 
charge. His usual method when meeting the 
enemy was to order a charge. Sometimes this 
was very successful, and at other times it was 
not so much so and very costly of men. It 
was because of this that he secured the nick- 
name of " Kil-Cavalry." He was good-natured, 



98 CIVIL WAK EXPERIENCES 

approachable, and not inclined to be mucli of 
a disciplinarian. 

He was not disposed to pnnisli his men if 
they took a horse from citizens, which they 
occasionally did in 1862, unless they were caught 
at it. 

One day when we were in camp near Fal- 
mouth a citizen called on him to complain that 
a horse of his had been stolen and to ask per- 
mission to go through our companies' streets in 
search of it. The man rode into camp and tied 
his horse to one of the stakes to which the 
General's tent was attached. Kilpatrick courte- 
ously invited him in, listened to his story, and 
gave him permission to go through camp looking 
for his horse. On emerging from the tent the 
man found that while he was inside some one 
had taken his saddle from the horse he rode in 
on. My recollection is that he recovered neither 
the saddle nor the horse he was in search of. 

Kilpatrick was energetic, brave, and patriotic, 
and as a cavalry leader had a splendid record, 
and I understood that his services after he went 
to Sherman's army were much appreciated by 
that commander. 

Among the fine officers with whom it was my 
privilege to serve and whose friendship has 
grown and still exists, were Colonel Henry C. 
Weir, adjutant-general of General D. McM. 
Gregg's cavalry division and his chief-of-staff, 
and General Walter C. Newberry, the lieutenant- 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 99 

colonel commandiDg the Twenty-fourth cavalry 
in June. It was the former w^ho took me from 
the ranks and secured for me the position at 
General Gregg's headquarters, which brought me 
under the eye of the General and gave me op- 
portunities that probably secured the promotion 
I ultimately obtained. 

Weir Avas about twenty-one years of age in 
1863, and with a most attractive personality. 
He had a wide acquaintance among officers of 
the army wiio had graduated from West Point, 
since his father was Professor Weir, the famous 
artist on duty there, some of whose paintings 
are in the rotunda of the Capitol at Washington. 
W^eir was adjutant-general of General Bayard's 
brigade when the latter was killed at Fredericks- 
burg, and then continued as such with General 
Gregg's division to the end of the war. He was 
intensely patriotic, high-toned in character, and 
one of the bravest men I ever knew. Indeed, 
General Gregg once remarked to me after the 
w^ar that Weir was so uniformly brave that he 
found it difficult to recall a particular instance 
in order that he might recommend him for a 
Medal of Honor. The Medal of Honor was, 
however, awarded to Weir later and no man 
better deserved it. 

General Newberry, to whose kindness and con- 
sideration I am so greatly indebted, had been 
an officer in one of the New York State infantry 
regiments that w^ent out for two years' service. 



100 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 

On returning in 1SG3, he, with Colonel W. C. 
Raulston, raised tlie Twenty-fourth New York 
cavalry. These officers were both fine soldiers. 

General Newberry was a man of sound 
judgment, exceedingly cool in battle and in 
emergencies, and a fine executive. He was most 
considerate of his men and quick to appreciate 
any man or officer who tried to do his duty. I 
doubt if any colonel of a regiment knew more 
of his men personally than did he. He kept a 
record in which he described the character of 
every officer's service, noting his impression of 
them both as men and officers. Since the war 
he has been a man of affairs, holding prominent 
positions, serving his city. State, and nation, 
yet with all his large interests he has kept him- 
self informed of the whereabouts of many of 
the survivors of the Twenty-fourth cavalry, and 
I cannot imagine any regimental commander 
more beloved by his men than he. During my 
short term of service with the Twenty-fourth 
cavalry, which was from about the latter part 
of February till the 17th of June, the last forty- 
five days of which covered the campaign from 
the Wilderness to Petersburg, my intercourse 
with General Newberry was mainly official, and 
it was not until I received a sympathetic letter ^ 
while in the hospital that I realized how good 
a friend I had in him. In later years this letter 

1 See Appendix B. 



CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 101 

was followed by a report to the Secretary of 
War recommendiDg that a Medal of Honor be 
awarded me, which was accordingly done.^ 

In October, the 24th New York cavalry was 
mounted and assigned to General Gregg's di- 
vision, which in the spring of 1865 was com- 
manded by General Crook. Except when 
commanding a brigade. General Newberry com- 
manded the regiment from June 18th, when 
Colonel Raulston was wounded, until a few days 
before the end of the war. He was wounded 
t^ice in the summer of 1861, but retained his 
command until March 31, 1865, at Dinwiddle 
Court House, where he was severely wounded, 
this preventing further active service. Lee's 
surrender occurred ten days later. He was 
brevetted brigadier-general for gallant and dis- 
tinguished service at Dinwiddle Court House, 
March 31, 1865. 

I count the friendship of Newberry and Weir, 
begun during the war and continuing up to the 
present time, one of the greatest privileges I 
have ever been able to enjoy. 

Colonel William C. Raulston, who commanded 
the Twenty-fourth cavalry until he was given 
the command of a brigade, also treated me with 
great courtesy and consideration. It was he 
who suggested that I be selected to go to Wash- 
ington for ammunition, and I assume he also 

1 See Appendix A. 



102 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 

recommended me for other special duties which 
I was given an opportunity to perform. He was 
an exceedingly gallant officer, was wounded on 
the day after I was, recovered and returned to 
duty, and was subsequently captured. In an 
unsuccessful attempt to break out of prison at 
Danville, in which he was a leader, he was shot 
by a guard and died a few days after. 

Among the many gallant men with whom I 
at different times served, I remember especially 
Captain L. G. Estes, adjutant-general to General 
Kilpatrick, and afterwards Brevet Brigadier- 
General, and his aides, Captain, afterwards 
Brevet Brigadier-General, E. W. Whitaker and 
Captain Theodore F. Northrop. No cavalry 
officer had braver staff-officers than were these 
three men. Whitaker and Northrop repeatedly 
carried out successfully missions involving un- 
usual hazards and requiring great daring. 



APPENDIX A 

letter recommending award of medal of honor — ' 

war department's action thereon extract 

from general newberry^s records 

Chicago, III., 

April 11, 1898. 
Hon. Russell A. Alger, 

Secy, of War, 
Washington, D. C. 
Dear Sir: 

I believe there are still some Medals of Honor 
awaiting officers and men of the late War who by 
some S}jecial act of bravery or the saving of life 
or enhancing the safety of the Army have earned 
such a reward. 

I desire to call your attention to the case of an 
officer of my own Regiment, the 24th N. Y. Cavalry, 
who has suffered greatly, and who has achieved most 
honorable position in the scientific world as a citi- 
zen since the War. I speak of Capt. and Brevet 
Major Henry C. Meyer, now Editor and Proprietor 
of a publication known as the Engineering Record 
of New York City. He has two sons who were 
raised in the same honorable manner and promise 
the very best of American citizenship to their coun- 
try that their father has, and I should very much 
like to see the father's heroism and suffering re- 
warded as they deserve and as I believe the Govern- 
ment intended by these Medals of Honor. 

Meyer as a boy, against his father's desire, enlisted 
in '62 in what was known as the " Harris Light " 
(2nd New York Cavalry). Being of good education 

103 



104 APPENDIX A 

and writing a fine hand, he was subsequently detailed 
as a clerk at Headquarters of General D. McM. 
Gregg of the 2nd Division of Cavalry. On the 9th 
of June, '63, at Brandy Station, noticing some 
men hard pressed, he rushed into the thickest of 
the fight and was wounded by a sabre across the 
shoulder. He made light of the wound at the time 
and induced Adj. -General Weir not to report his 
name as wounded on account of needless alarm to 
his mother. Within the last few years, however, 
both General Gregg and Colonel Weir reported this 
circumstance to the War Department, which you 
will find on file under date of November 19th, '91, 
addressed to the Adj. -General of the Army and 
certified by those officers. Later, in an engagement 
at Buckland Mills, where General Kilpatrick's Di- 
vision met with a reverse, General Davies's Brigade 
was imperilled by reason of the fact that General 
Custer's Brigade had been driven to the north side 
of Broad Run, and the enemy had gotten in between 
General Custer and his command, which was hard 
pressed some two miles near Warrenton. General 
Kilpatrick expressed his desire that somebody get 
to Davies that he might be made aware of the 
situation. Without waiting for further orders 
Meyer rode up the river and crossed the stream 
above the enemy and made his way around their 
flank and in their rear to Davies, who was thus 
enabled, without serious loss, to escape across the 
country to Haymarket. Meyer was recommended 
by Generals Gregg and Kilpatrick for a commission, 
and early in '61 was assigned to the 24th New York 
Cavalry, then just ready for the field. Coming to 
us with a 2nd Lieut.'s commission and being fa- 
miliar with cavalry tactics he was a great addition 
to our effectiveness. From the Wilderness through 
that entire campaign the 24th N. Y. fought dis- 
mounted, and Lt. Meyer was most efficient from 
the fact of knowing the country so well, and was 
frequently detailed to guide troops to positions, es- 



APPENDIX A 105 

pecially about Spottsylvania. The Regiment being 
armed with special Star Carbines nsed a special cart- 
ridge unobtainable except by special requisition, and 
the Regiment being in constant service at the front, 
the ammunition was likely to be exhausted. Gen. 
Rurnside was requested to send an officer to Wash- 
ington for these cartridges, and he by special letter 
detailed Lt. Meyer, who showed great efficiency in 
bringing the ammunition to the front, seizing a 
wagon of Gen. Potter's (another Division) to save 
time and distributing the cartridges in blankets 
along the line of battle when the supply was nearly 
exhausted. On the 8th of June Meyer was com- 
missioned Captain, and on June 17th, in that terrible 
assault upon the line before Petersburg, where he 
lost one third of his Company, he was fearfully 
wounded very near the position where Gen. Morton, 
the Engineer Officer of the Corps, was killed. He 
had escaped wounds through the most serious part 
of the charge, when later he discovered an officer, 
Lt. Randall, very badly wounded, Randall having 
been shot in five places and lying with his face 
buried in the dirt between our lines; Meyer turned 
back, going fifty to seventy-five yards out of his way, 
and in plain sight of the enemy, turned Lt. Randall 
over, brushed the sand and blood from his mouth 
so that he could breathe, thus saving his life, when 
he himself received a most dangerous wound. I was 
in sight of him, and he, after crawling in, was helped 
over the works just in advance of me by two men, 
and as soon as I reached him I detailed men to 
carry him back. For many months he lay in the 
Hospital and was not able to be removed to his 
home until the following October, and was a great 
sufferer for eleven months. 

I should claim that this act alone of saving the 
life of a brother officer, being an act beyond his 
regular duty, entitled him to a Medal of Honor. 
His service and his honorable character as a civilian 
and the high position he to-day holds in the scien- 



106 APPENDIX A 

tific world seem to point him out as a proper person 
to receive such high and distinguishing honor from 
the Government. I earnestly recommend that the 
Medal of Honor be conferred upon Captain and 
Brevet Major Henry C. Meyer of New York City. 
With continued high regard, 
I remain, 

Respectfully, 

Walter C. Newberry, 

Late Col. 24th N. Y. Vet. Cavl. 

Brevet Brig. Genl. 



E. L. 

Subject: Medal of Honor. 

WAR DEPARTMENT, 
WASHINGTON. 



File No. R. & P. 517,138. 



March 14, 1899. 



Captain Henry C. Meyer, 

The Engineering Record, 
211 Pearl Street, 
New York City. 
Sir: 

I have the honor to advise you that, by direction 
of the President and under the provisions of the Act 
of Congress approved March 3, 1863, a Congressional 
Medal of Honor has this day been awarded to you 
for distinguished gallantry in action near Peters- 
burg, Virginia, June 17, 1864, the following being 
a statement of the particular service rendered on 
that occasion : 

" During an assault upon the enemy's works, this 
officer rendered heroic assistance to a helpless 
brother officer in the face of a heavy fire, thereby 



APPENDIX A 107 

saving his life, and in the performance of this 
gallant act sustained a severe wound." 

The Medal will be forwarded to you, by registered 
mail, as soon as it shall have been properly 
engraved. 

Very respectfully, 

G. D. Meiklejohn, 

Assistant Secretary of War. 



EXTRACT FROM GENERAL NEWBERRY^S RECORDS 

Chicago, April 11, 1898. 
Henry 0. Meyer^ Jr., 

New York City. 
My Dear Sir: 

Soon after the close of the War of the Rebellion, 
finding myself in possession of the Descriptive List 
Roster of my Regiment — the 24th N. Y. Veteran 
Cavalry, — and appreciating the effect of time upon 
my memory and judgment, resolved to go over the 
list of officers and make record of my unbiased 
conclusion as to their ability and character. 

I have had frequent occasion to consult that 
record since, and knowing how much you would 
appreciate this recorded opinion of your Father's 
character and service I will quote my endorsement 
as therein written thirty-three years ago. 

"Henry C. Meyer, 2nd Lt., Jan. 26, 1864. Pro- 
moted to Capt. June 8, 1864. 

" Assigned to Co. D. Wounded June 17, 1864. 

"Discharged Sp. Order War Dept. Oct. 13, 1864; 
Disability. 

" This officer was among the finest officers I have 
ever met. Cool, cautious, and brave as a soldier, 
he was generous, true, and sincere as a friend. 



108 APPENDIX A 

He was fearfully wounded and was discharged in 
consequence. 

" W. C. Newberry^ 

" Col." 
May you deserve such, commendation after as 
many years of experience. 

Sincerely yours, 

Walter 0. Newberry. 



APPENDIX B 

[The following letters and copies of special orders 
are here reproduced as having some bearing on my 
promotions, and to indicate the opinions of those 
with whom I actively served in the Civil War of 
1861-1865.— H. C. M.] 



first promotion 

Head Quarters Cavalry Division. 

Left Grand Division. 

Dec. 29th, 1862. 

Special Order 
No. 7. 

Private Henry 0. Meyer, of C Company, 2nd New 
York Cavalry, is hereby detailed as Clerk in the 
Adjt. Genl's office at these Head Quarters and will 
report immediately. 
By command of' Brig. Genl. Gregg. 

H. C. Weir, 
Capt. and A. A. G. 
(Official Copv.) 
H. C. Weir, 

Capt. and A. A. G. 

recommendations for commission 

Head Quarters 2nd Div. Cav., 
Ass't Adj't Genl's Office, 
Sept. 5th, 1863. 
Hon. Geo. T. Cobb, M. C. 

Sir: It gives me pleasure to recommend Private 
109 



110 APPENDIX B 

Henry C. Meyer, 2nd N. York Cav., for a commission. 
He has been a faithful soldier and excellent clerk, 
and is eminently qualified mentally and morally for 
a commission, especially as an adjutant of a Keg't. 
I am very respectfully, 

Your ob't s'y't, 

H. 0. Weir, 

A. A. G. 

Head Qrs., 2nd Div. Cav. Corps, 
Sept. 6th, 1863. 
The within recommendation of Capt. H. C. Weir, 
A. A. G., of this Division, is fully concurred in. I 
have known Private Meyer, 2nd N. Y. Cavalry, for 
nearly two years and can attest his faithfulness as 
a soldier, his moral, mental, and physical qualifica- 
tions for the position of Commissioned Officer. 
D. McM. Gregg, 

Brig. Gen. Vols., 
Com'g, 2nd Div., 
Cavalry Corps. 

Headquarters 2nd Division Cavalry Corps, 

September 9th, 1863. 
Lieut. E. B. Parsons, 

A. A. A. G. Cav'y Corps. 
Lieut. : I have the honor to request the suspen- 
sion of the order from the Major Gen'l Commanding 
directing me to return Private H. C. Meyer, 2nd 
New York Cav'y, to his Regiment. Private Meyer 
has been serving for a year as clerk at the Hdqrs. 
of the 2nd Division, the former 3d Division, and 
Bayard's Brigade. He is well instructed in his 
duties, and is familiar with all the records of the 
Adjutant-General's office of this Division. Capt. 
H. C. Weir, A. A. G., of this Division, is now 
absent sick, and at this time the services of Private 
Meyer are invaluable. I respectfully request, there- 
fore, that I may for the present be permitted to 
retain Private Meyer. Private W. H. Bubier, 2nd 



APPENDIX B 111 

N. Y. Cavalry, was taken prisoner at the battle of 
Brandy Station, and has not returned to these 
Hdqrs. 

I am, very respectfully, 

Your ob't serv't, 
D. McM. Gregg, 
Brig.-Gen'l Vols., 
Comdg 2nd Divsn., C. C. 
(Official copy) 
H. C. Weir, 
Capt. A. A. G. 

Head Quarters 3rd Division, 
Cavalry Corps, 

Octr. 5th, 1863. 
Special Order ) 
No. 38. f 
Private Henry C. ^Teyer, Co. C, 2nd N. York 
Cavalry, is hereby detailed on special duty as Clerk 
in the Adjt. GenPs Office at these Head Quarters, 
and will report for duty without delay. 
By command of Brig.-Genl. Kilpatrick. 

L. G. Estes, 
A. A. Genl. 
(Official) 

L. G. Estes, 
A. A. G. 

recommendations for promotion to a commissioned 

OFFICER 

Head Quarters, 3rd Division, C. C. 

December 31st, 1863. 
Hon. Geo. T. Cobb: 

T understand that you are about to make an effort 
to secure a Lieutenancy in one of the regular Cav. 
Regiments for Henry C. Meyer, now a private in 
Harris Light Cavalry. I hope you will be success- 
ful ; he fully merits and will fill with honor the 
position to which he aspires. He was for a long 



112 APPENDIX B 

time a clerk at General Gregg's Hd. Qurs., and after 
I was given a Division transferred to my Head 
Quarters. He is energetic, well educated, and a 
Gentleman, and possessing as he does a thorough 
knowledge of all papers, accounts, and reports which 
pertain to a regiment, brigade, or division, acquired 
by one or two years' service in the field, he is better 
qualified to discharge the duties of a subordinate 
officer than many of our West Point graduates on 
leaving the Academy. If you think this letter will 
aid in your efforts you are at liberty to use it. 
Very Respectfully 

Your Obed't Serv't, 

J. KiLPATRICK, 

Brig. Genl. Vols. 

LETTEPw ACCOMPANYING MY COMMISSION WHILE IN 
SEMINARY HOSPITAL 

Hd. Qts. 24th N. Y. Cavalry, 
Near Petersburg, Va., July 22, '64. 
My Dear Gapt : Your commission has arrived and 
T have forwarded it to your address at the Metro- 
politan Hotel, Washington, D. C., thinking it would 
be more safe than at the Hospital, for we're not 
certain where you are now. I congratulate you on 
the promotion and am happy to acknowledge that 
you deserve it and much more than a bleeding, suf- 
fering country like ours can ever give. These honors 
but illy pay a man for the suffering endured, where 
horrible wounds like yours are the penalty of brav- 
ery. Yet the consciousness of having done one's 
duty is much reward. 

We all look for your return with much interest. 
Lt. Raulston is to-day mustered to your Company. 
I enclose a morning report of your Co. 

With many wishes for your health, I am, 
Y^ours, 

Newberry^ 
Capt. Henry C. Meyer. Lt-Col. Comdg. 



APPENDIX B 113 

FINAL DISCHARGE ON ACCOUNT OF DISABILITY FROM 
WOUNDS 

War Department, 
Adjt. Genl's Office, Washington, D. C. 

October 13th, 1864. 
Special Order) 
No. 345. j 

(Extract.) 

51. The following named officers are hereby 
honorably discharged the Service of the United 
States on account of physical disability from 
wounds received in action, with condition that they 
shall receive no final payments until they have 
satisfied the Pay Department that they are not 
indebted to the Government. 

2nd Lt. H. C. Meyer, 24th N. Y. Cav'y.i 
***** 
By Order of the Secretary of War. 

E. A. Townsend, 

A. A. Gen'l. 
Hd. Qrs. 2nd Cav. Division, 
Oct. 23rd, ^64. 
(Official.) 
A. H. Bibber, 

A. A. A. Gen'l. 

Hd. Qrs. 24th N. Y. Cavly., 

Feb. 20th, 1865. 
C. P. Williams, 
(Official Copy.) Lt. and Act. Adjt. 

\} I was discharged as 2nd Lieutenant because no oppor- 
tunity occurred to permit my being mustered in as Captain 
before I was wounded. Congress, however, recognized all 
such cases, and subsequent legislation gave all officers the 
rank they were eligible to— mine being Captain. Subse- 
quently I received a commission as Brevet Major, stated to 
be for " gallant and meritorious services." — H. C. M.] 



lU APPENDIX B 

[The following letter was never presented.] 

Navy Yard, New York, 

Deer. 23d, 1863. 
My Dear Mr. Potts: 

The bearer of this is Henry C. Meyer, my young 
friend who has gallantly served in the field w^ith 
Generals Kilpatrick and Gregg. 

He is to my knowledge a gentleman by education 
and association, and in every way calculated to fill 
the place of a First Lieutenant. 

I have given a letter to the Adj't-General, and if 
you can speak a good word for him you will do me 
a great kindness. 

All his attributes are those of a gentleman. 

Your friend, 

H. Paulding. 
John Potts, Esq., 

Chief Clerk, War Department. 



Navy Yard, New York, 

Dec. 23rd, 1863. 

Sir: I take leave, most respectfully, to com- 
mend to your Excellency's consideration my young 
friend, Henry C. Meyer, a private in Second N. Y, 
Light Cavalry. He is intelligent, of a highly inter- 
esting and unexceptionable character, well educated, 
and in all his attributes of a gentleman well cal- 
culated to fill the place of an officer. 

He has been serving in the field with Genls. Kil- 
patrick and Gregg for eighteen months, and his 
commanding officers testify to his gallantry and his 
manly bearing. 

In speaking thus highly of Mr. Meyer I do so 
from personal knowledge, having known him from 
a child. 

I trust your Excellency may be able to advance 
this young gentleman to a position worthy of his 
merit, feeling assured it will be for the interest of 
the public service. 



APPENDIX B 115 

With high respect, your Excellency's most ob'd't 
serv't, 

H. Paulding,, 

Rear Admiral. 



His Excellency, 

Horatio Seymour^ 

Governor of the State of New York. 



Navy Yard, New York, 

Deer. 23rd, 1863. 
My Dear General: 

My young friend, Henry C. Meyer, of the 2nd 
N. York Light Cavalry, has been serving in the field 
with Generals Kilpa trick and Gregg for eighteen 
months as a private, and his gallantry and manly 
bearing are well attested. 

I have known him from childhood as estimable 
and charming in all his attributes as a gentleman. 

He is well educated, high-toned in character, and 
in every way a young gentleman of great merit. 

He entered the service from the love of a soldier's 
life and motives of patriotism. 

He has won advancement by his service in the 
field and will make an excellent officer. 

If you can give him a helping hand, I am sure 
you will. I have no acquaintance with the Sec. of 
War or General-in-Chief, and therefore commend the 
young gentleman to you as one of our fraternity 
when the Rebellion commenced. 

I have the honor to be, with high respect and 
esteem, your friend and most obdt., servt. 

H. Paulding, 
Rear Admiral. 
To Genl. E. D. Townsend^ 
Adjt. Genl., U. S. Army, 

Washington. 
(True copy.) 



116 APPENDIX B 

War Department, 

Adjutant-General's Office, 

Washington, Feb'y 10th, 1864. 
Special Order ) 
No. 66 f 

(Extract.) 

14. At the request of the Governor of New York, 
Private Henry C. Meyer, 2nd New York Cav'y, is 
hereby honorably discharged the Service of the 
United States to enable him to accept an appoint- 
ment in another Regiment. 

By order of the Secretary of War, 
E. D. Townsend^ 

Ass't Ad'j't Gen. 
H'd Q'r's Cav'v Corps, 

Feb. i2th, 1864. 
(Official.) 

E. B. Parsons, 

Capt. and A. A. A. G. 

Head Q'r's 3rd Div. C, C., 

Feb. 12th, 1864. 
(Official.) L. G. EsTES, 

Capt. and A. A. G. 

admiral PAULDING TO GENERAL KILPATRICK. 

Navy Yard, New York, 

Febr'y 16th, 1864. 
My Dear General: 

Without a personal acquaintance, I respect and 
honor you for gallant service in the field. 

You have had my young friend Henry Meyer with 
you and have learned to esteem him. I have known 
him from a boy, as an interesting youth, and as a 
gentleman by education and association, and know 
that when he entered the Army as a Private he was 
honored and beloved, and from zeal and love of 
country he left a comfortable home and lucrative 
place. 



APPENDIX B 117 

I am very fond of him for his personal merit and 
have confidence in commending him to you in every 
way in which he can serve you in our sacred cause. 

He is now a 2d Lieut, in a New York Regt. and 
will doubtless be able soon to fill a more prominent 
place. 

For the favor you have shown him, and for your 
gallant and distinguished services to the country, 
I entertain the highest respect for you and thank 
and honor you and beg to subscribe myself your 
friend and most obd't serv't. 

H. Paulding. 
Rear Admiral and Comdt. 

To GeNL. J. KiLPATRICK, 

Army of the Potomac. 

EXPLANATION OF NON-MUSTER AS CAPTAIN. 

I hereby certify that Henry C. Meyer, late 2d Lieu- 
tenant 24th N. Y. Cavalry, was severely wounded in 
action on the 17th day of June before Petersburg, 
Ya., 1864; that there was a Commission from the 
Governor of New York making said Meyer a Captain 
in said Regiment, and that owing to an irregularity 
in the mails said Commission did not arrive at the 
Head Quarters of the command until about the 
20th inst. ; and further, that said Meyer was acting 
in the capacity of Captain by authority of the Col. 
commanding, and that he was absent and prevented 
from being mustered by no fault of his; that said 
Meyer was a gallant and meritorious oflQcer and 
deserving said promotion. 

W. C. Newberry, 
Late Col. 24th N. Y. Cavalry. 
Bvt. Brig. Gen. 
Sworn subscribed to before me 
this 19th day of June, 1866, at 
this city of Petersburg, Va. 
Chas. Stringfellbn, I 

[seal] Notary Public. J 



118 APPENDIX B 

[The following letter is^ liiglily prized as coming 
from Corporal Gimdlaeli, of my Company, who, al- 
though wounded himself, waited on me until re- 
moved from the field hospital.] 

West Seneca Centre, N. Y. 

October 14th, 1868. 
Capt. H. C. Meyer, 

New York City. 
Dear Sir : A few days back I was in Buffalo and 
stopped at Mr. Flach's store ; I learned that you got 
married. Permit me, dear sir, to give you my best 
and sincere congratulation. 

I always must and will respect you for your 
honesty, bravery, and your good moralic advices, 
which you used to give your subordinate. When 
others did their duty, you used to do three times 
more than you was obliged to do. 
I would ask you for your likeness. 

Y^our most obt. servant, 

Fred. Gundlach. 

[The following statement with its endorsements 
was placed on file in the War Department.] 

New York, November 19, 1891. 
To the Adjutant-General op the Army, 

Washington^ D. C. 

Dear Sir: At the solicitation of friends I de- 
sire to place on record the fact, not heretofore of- 
ficially reported, that I received a wound from a 
sabre at the battle of Brandv Station on the 9th 
of June, 1863. 

I was then a private in the 2nd N. Y". Cavalry, 
detailed as clerk in the Adjutant-General's Depart- 
ment of the 2nd Division Cavalry Corps, Army of 
the Potomac. 

That this circumstance was not reported at the 
time was due to the fact that I personally made 



APPENDIX B 119 

out the list of casualties occurring in the Division 
on the evening following the battle. My wound was 
not a severe one, though painful. 

When it was suggested that I include my name, 
I declined to do so on the ground that its publica- 
tion in the papers would needlessly alarm my 
parents, and consequently withheld it. 

I was subsequently severely wounded at Peters- 
burg and mustered out in consequence, which is a 
matter of record. 

In making this request to have this circumstance 
go on record, I disclaim any permanent injury or 
any desire or intention of claiming any pension 
because of that w^ound. 

This statement is corroborated herewith by Gen- 
eral D. McM. Gregg, commanding the Division, and 
H. C. Weir, Capt. and Asst. Adjutant-General at 
the time. 

Respectfully, 

Henry C. Meyer. 
Late Capt. and Bvt. Major 

24th New York Cavalry. 

The above was endorsed as follows : 

The foregoing statement is correct and worthy of 
record, and I heartily recommend the same. 
Very respectfully, your ob't serv't, 
Henry C. Weir, 
Late Bv't Lt. Col. and Major, 
Ass't Adjt. Gen'l, U. S. Vols., 
2d Division, Cavalry Corps, 
A. O. Potomac. 
Brooklyn, L. I., Nov. 25, '91. 

Reading, Pa., Dec. 5th, 1891. 
I fully concur in the recommendation of Colonel 
Weir, as I readily recall the fact mentioned within. 
D. Mc.M. Gregg, 
Late Brig, and Bv't Maj. Gen'l Vols., 

ConiVrg 2d Cav. Division, A. P. 



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